This weekend, Manchester City may be without Nathan Ake, Luke Mbete, Kalvin Phillips, and Jack Grealish.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is already dealing with selection issues ahead of the club’s fourth Premier League game of the season, which takes place at home against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Despite the high level of talent available to the Catalan, he does not have the largest squad to work with and may be concerned about a number of injuries.
Jack Grealish remains a doubt and missed last weekend’s 3-3 draw at Newcastle United due to a knock. He also wasn’t involved in the midweek friendly with Barcelona, and might not be back in time for the visit of Palace.
Nathan Ake is another who didn’t feature in the 3-3 draw at the Nou Camp on Wednesday, and the Dutchman picked up a groin injury at St James’ Park, which Guardiola hinted at the time could prove to be a longer-term issue.
Those injuries were added to this week with Kalvin Phillips and Luke Mbete coming off against Barca, with the extent of both problems still unknown.
An absence for the latter really could pose a problem to Guardiola, who may have just two fit centre-backs available with Aymeric Laporte still missing after he underwent knee surgery in the summer.
It means John Stones and Ruben Dias look set to start against Palace, a side who City failed to beat in either of their Premier League meetings last season.
At full-back, Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo are likely to play at the Etihad, although Sergio Gomez could be handed a competitive debut.
The trio of Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne have started all three of City’s previous league games this season, and are likely to do so again this weekend, especially given none of them started at the Nou Camp on Wednesday.
Riyad Mahrez and Cole Palmer played the full 90 minutes against Barcelona, which could indicate they’ll be rotated on Saturday, meaning City might line up with a front three of Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden.
Silva predominantly played in midfield last season, but started out wide against Newcastle and Guardiola seems to prefer the trident of Rodri, Gundogan, and De Bruyne at present.
Manchester City predicted XI: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Stones, Cancelo; Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Silva, Haaland, Foden.
