In nine days, Manchester City will play Liverpool in the Premier League. Seven players are currently sidelined due to injuries or have withdrawn from international play.
A terrible start to the international break continued when Matheus Nunes became the seventh Manchester City injury doubt for their Premier League match against Liverpool next week.
The Portuguese FA oddly deemed Nunes “clinically unfit” on Wednesday, and he will not play in Portugal’s two games this week. According to reports in the national media, he was unable to train on Tuesday due to a muscle injury, which is why he withdrew.
The midfielder joins Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, and Sergio Gomez as the three players already on City’s injury list prior to the break in withdrawing from the November international matches, along with Mateo Kovacic, Ederson, and Nathan Ake.
In contrast to Gomez, who may or may not be ready following a training injury, Pep Guardiola stated that he hoped Stones would be ready following the break but that he wouldn’t rush the defender’s return. Ake’s issue was not given a deadline, and City will wait to evaluate Ederson, Kovacic, and Nunes until they get back to Manchester.
There might only be 14 fit outfield players for City against Liverpool if they are unavailable, including rookie Oscar Bobb. Even with a few players switching around, the Blues would still have a formidable squad to take on Liverpool despite their lack of depth.
If Ederson isn’t up to par, City can easily substitute Stefan Ortega in goal, and the defense might be just as solid without Stones and Ake. This back line—Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Manu Akanji, and Josko Gvardiol—has experience playing together this season, having played against Chelsea just last weekend. It is arguably City’s best defense.
Despite the injuries, Rodri can start in his typical holding midfield position with Bernardo Silva beside him. An outfield that is exactly the same as the one that played Chelsea is still conceivable.
The players who are currently available to play are Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku, Julian Alvarez, and Erling Haaland. However, Alvarez will be returning from South America soon before the Saturday 12.30pm kickoff against Liverpool, so Jack Grealish might enter the game and move Phil Foden to the number ten spot.
The injuries would most likely manifest themselves on the bench, where Grealish (or Alvarez), Scott Carson, Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb, and Kalvin Phillips might be the only players available.
As things stand, City should be able to manage the growing injury crisis provided that some of the injuries are not too severe. However, in order to prevent having to rely too much on the same 13 or 13 senior players for an extended period of time, they will need the injured players to heal quickly.