Man City dealt fresh Liverpool nightmare as injury fear emerges ahead of Anfield clash

Manchester City’s injury woes have deepened with John Stones now a major doubt ahead of their high-stakes encounter with Liverpool. Pep Guardiola is already grappling with the absence of several pivotal players during what could be described as a crisis period for the defending Premier League champions, who have suffered five straight defeats.

Liverpool are currently enjoying an eight-point advantage at the summit of the league, a gap that could extend to eleven if they triumph over City at Anfield this Sunday.

Guardiola will certainly miss the services of Rodri and Mateo Kovacic, both central midfielders, against Liverpool. Stones, who would have been a potential stand-in for the midfield, was absent from training on Monday, casting doubts on his availability for the crucial Liverpool clash.

The 30 year old England defender is also unlikely to partake in Tuesday’s Champions League outing against Feyenoord, leaving City in dire need to arrest their decline before venturing to Merseyside. Stones was notably replaced at the interval during City’s embarrassing 4-0 home defeat by Tottenham last Saturday.

City’s manager has emphasised injuries as being instrumental in the team’s downturn, particularly within the midfield area. “Our main player for transitions, Rodri is not there,” the City boss confessed.

“We cannot survive because with four central defenders I put Manu[el Akanji] or John there, with Ruben [Dias], Nathan [Ake] and Josko [Gvardiol] behind. We would be strong but we don’t have it.”

Guardiola has opened up about the tactical dilemmas he’s facing at Manchester City, saying: “I have to play with [Ilkay] Gundo[gan], who is an attacking midfielder and our best guy for arriving into the box but I have to play him as a holding midfielder because the other holding midfielder – Kova is injured. And it has to be alongside Rico [Lewis] to give us a lot of passes and we have to adapt.”

After the Spurs setback, Guardiola issued a stark warning to his squad that they cannot afford another loss against Liverpool if they are to secure their fifth consecutive league title. He acknowledged the gravity of the situation, admitting: “Yes. In terms of Liverpool winning, winning, winning it’s true.”

The City boss reflected on the team’s recent struggles, stating: “I don’t know what is going to happen, but the reality is here and we have to win games. People are saying it can’t get worse – but it can get worse. The exceptional things we have done over the last eight years are not eternal. I said how difficult it was to do the things we have done – and now people might believe me.”

He also conceded that the team is currently vulnerable: “We are a bit fragile right now, but we can’t run away. We have to face it. I would like to say there is just one reason for losing three Premier League games in a row. There are many details that we have to fix.”