Central defender John Stones joined the injured list at English football club Manchester City, according to what its Spanish coach, Pep Guardiola, confirmed on Friday, joining his fellow Norwegian scorer Erling Haaland and Belgians Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku.
Stones injured his ankle during his team’s match against Everton (3-1) at Goodison Park in the 19th round of the English Premier League.
Guardiola explained that Stones will be absent from the team for a short period.
Haaland did not return to training fully after missing six matches due to a foot injury, while the next match with Sheffield United on Saturday will be too early for De Bruyne and Doku to return.
“Nothing has changed,” Guardiola replied when asked about the available players. “We have the same injuries and John Stones will be added to them.”
Sheffield is in last place, but has made some good performances since Chris Wilder was appointed coach. City occupies fourth place, 5 points behind leaders Liverpool, and has a game in hand.
Guardiola, who led his team to win five titles this season, expects a difficult match despite the position his guest is in.
“We always faced problems against Sheffield,” he said. He added, “They gave an amazing performance against Aston Villa (they tied 1-1 in the eighteenth round) and were close to winning the match.”
He added, “The match will be difficult, as will the match against Crystal Palace to some extent (they tied 2-2 in the 17th round). We did not achieve positive results at home in the past matches, so we will try to focus on what we must do.”
Guardiola considered that the year “was not bad at all. It could have always been better, but we should not be too greedy. It was very good.”
This will be City’s last match in the year 2023, during which the team won the Premier League title, the Champions League, the FA Cup, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
2023-12-29 18:23:36
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