Man City dealt new injury setback before Liverpool as Pep Guardiola concerns grow

John Stones could be an injury doubt for Manchester City's crucial Premier League showdown at Anfield this weekend, having missed training on Monday. The England international was subbed off at half-time during City's 4-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday night and now poses an injury concern for the upcoming fixtures against Feyenoord and Liverpool.

Stones was among several players missing from Monday's training session at the City Football Academy, reports the Liverpool ECHO, as they prepared for Tuesday's clash against Arne Slot's former team. However, there was a silver lining for Pep Guardiola as, despite Stone's absence, he was able to welcome back Ruben Dias and Jeremy Doku to team training after they missed Saturday's defeat.

Manchester City is set to travel to Anfield aiming to close the eight-point gap between itself and Liverpool, who maintained its impressive start to the new season with a comeback win against Southampton at the weekend. However, it will have to attempt this without Rodri, Oscar Bobb and Mateo Kovacic for the top-of-the-table encounter.

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During his press conference on Monday, Guardiola conceded that injuries have contributed to his side's streak of five consecutive losses in all competitions. He expressed concerns about his team's current state, citing injuries to key players such as Rodri and Kovacic. "They are still not ready because they were injured. Our main player for transitions, Rodri is not there," he said.

"We cannot survive because with four central defenders I put Manu or John there, with Ruben (Dias), Nathan (Ake) and Josko (Gvardiol) behind. We would be strong but we don't have it."

Guardiola explained that he has had to adapt his team's formation, using attacking midfielder Ilkay Gundogan as a holding midfielder due to the injuries. "I have to play with Gundo, 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 — [Mateo] Kova[cic] is injured," he said. "And it has to be alongside Rico to give us a lot of passes and we have to adapt."

Despite the challenges, Guardiola remains optimistic, emphasizing that his team's desire to win is still strong. "It's not because they are soft or they don't want it or they are lazy. We had 26 shots on target and clear ones in front of the keeper — Vicario was exceptional."

"What we have to do is insist. 26 [shots] is not enough? Create more, and try to concede fewer. One day we're going to win a game and our mind will be clear. I hope Tuesday, if not Sunday. The desire is there and we are going to try."

In contrast, Liverpool will be without several key players, including Alisson Becker, Diogo Jota, and Federico Chiesa, when they face Manchester City. However, Trent Alexander-Arnold may return to the line-up after missing Sunday's match against Southampton due to a muscle injury.

Liverpool.com says: Stones is certainly not the most reliable player when it comes to injuries and the problems are racking up for Guardiola. The Spaniard chose to have a relatively small roster, though, and he has also allowed the squad to get older together, with big signings like Matheus Nunes, Kalvin Phillips and several others not really making an impact. Rodri being out is a big miss but the current issues are about much more than just one individual, even if he is Ballon d'Or level.