Pep Guardiola confirms Man City injury as star out 'for a while' before must-win clash
Pep Guardiola confirms Man City injury as star out 'for a while' before must-win clash
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Jeremy Doku is OUT of Manchester City's must-win game against Club Brugge, with their Champions League hopes on a knife-edge. City must beat the Belgian side in order to advance to the knockout play-offs or they'll be eliminated altogether. Pep Guardiola's men only managed to win two of their first seven Champions Leagues matches, putting them 25th in the table with one final round of fixtures to go.
All 36 teams will be in action at the same time on Wednesday and sides who fail to finish in the top 24 won't have the consolation prize of dropping down to the Europa League like in previous seasons. Guardiola has been dealing with a hoard of injuries throughout December and January, with Doku now added to his list of absentees ahead of a huge week for City.
The Belgian winger missed last week's bruising 4-2 defeat away to Paris Saint-Germain and Saturday's 3-1 comeback win against Chelsea through injury. Guardiola has since confirmed that Doku, 22, won't feature against Brugge and could also miss Sunday's huge Premier League clash away to Arsenal.
Asked after the Chelsea game how long Doku will be out for, Guardiola replied: "A while. I don't know how much. But a while. He will not be ready for Wednesday for sure, I don't think. For Arsenal, we'll see.". City, though, have been given a boost in the form of John Stones, who was brought on to replace new signing Abdukodir Khusanov in the second half. Until a cameo in Paris, England international Stones hadn't played since before Christmas because of a foot injury, but he's set to be available from the start on Wednesday.
