If they do not return in time for City's match against West Ham United on Sunday, Pep Guardiola will have a major problem in the centre-back positions.
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Manchester City are getting close to reclaiming the Premier League title after demolishing Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-1 on Wednesday night. However, their injury concerns also continue to amplify with every passing game. Pep Guardiola’s side are already without three first-team defenders – Ruben Dias, John Stones and Kyle Walker. They have now received major setbacks in the form of Fernandinho, who played as a centre-back against Wolves, and Aymeric Laporte. They both were taken off during the match on Wednesday night after suffering knocks.
If they do not return in time for Manchester City’s match against West Ham United on Sunday, manager Pep Guardiola will have a major problem in the centre-back positions. “Well, apparently it doesn’t look good,” said Guardiola after the match, as per their club’s website. “I would say there are some muscular problems for Fernandinho, and it will be difficult for Sunday. Aymer had a tough knock on his knee, and we have just four days so we will see how they recover for Sunday.
Guardiola then shifted his attention to Wednesday night’s thumping win over Wolves and praised the players for their efforts. The defending champions require four more points from their final two games against West Ham and Aston Villa to get their hands on the league trophy again. “(There are) two weeks left, it was a brilliant performance from all the players. All of them. They implemented our movement perfectly and made good runs for the people up front. We were good. It’s an important victory. We need four points to be champion and we are going to try and get the first three on Sunday.
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“We could have scored more. It is not about that because if we win our games goal difference is not important. We have a really tough game on Sunday, and we have incredible problems in (defence). We don’t have players and against Antonio, Bowen, Lanzini, it will not be easy. But at the same time, it doesn’t matter what happens, we are going to find a solution and we are going to go there to win the game.”
For the Wednesday night clash against Wolves, City had a makeshift back four. With Walker, Stones and Dias absent, Guardiola started with Joao Cancelo on the right and Oleksandr Zinchenko as a left back. Defensive midfielder Fernandinho and Laporte were the centre-back partners. However, with the defensive two injured against Wolves, it will be interesting to see who fills those roles on Sunday. On a positive note, Nathan Ake’s return to fitness against Wolves will be a big boost for them. Hence, Rodri and Ake could be the centre-back partners if Fernandinho and Laporte don’t recover in time to play West Ham on Sunday.
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