Manchester City have an injury crisis at the back ahead of Saturday afternoon’s Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace, as Pep Guardiola will be without Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte against the Eagles.
There’s no cover if John Stones or Ruben Dias pick up an injury and Guardiola revealed he considered signing a defender as cover before opting against the move.
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He said in Friday’s pre-match press conference: “We thought about (bringing in cover). We wake up in the morning and think, ‘oh maybe we should have bought a central defender!’ But at the same time Nathan is coming back soon and then in late September/October, Aymer will be back, too.”
Luke Mbete is a central defender who played for City in their recent friendly with Barcelona, but the youngster picked up a head injury in the 3-3 draw and may be on joining Huddersfield Town on a season-long loan, so he isn’t a viable option.
There’s Rodri who has played in the makeshift role before, but his absence in the midfield would be felt. Kalvin Phillips isn’t 100% going into the meeting with Palace, so it remains to be seen if he could deputise in his absence.
The 26-year-old has played at centre-back in a City shirt himself, so Guardiola does have options if bad luck strikes, but the Sky Blues will be able to avoid square pegs in round holes for now.
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