**Manchester City will be without six first-team stars for their trip to face Crystal Palace in the Premier League this weekend, Pep Guardiola has confirmed.**
The Premier League champions travel to South London on Saturday afternoon as they look to build upon their first win in their last seven matches across competitions, hoping to make it back-to-back top-flight wins for the first time since late-October.
It was a dominant return to winning ways for Manchester City in midweek as they dismissed of high-flying Nottingham Forest at the Etihad Stadium courtesy of a 3-0 win, while the contest was somewhat marred by Phil Foden’s absence through bronchitis.
Kevin De Bruyne started his first game for the club since mid-September and a UEFA Champions league clash against Inter, marking his return to full match fitness with an assist and a goal int he first-half.
That victory moved Manchester City to within nine points of league leaders Liverpool, sitting fourth in the Premier League table and hoping to close that gap even further when they take on Oliver Glasner’s Eagles this weekend.
Ahead of the game, and as confirmed by Pep Guardiola during his pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, Phil Foden will not be ready for the weekend’s trip to South London, with the Manchester City manager unable to provide a timescale on his return.
Furthermore, and following his apparent muscular late in the 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, Guardiola also confirmed that Nathan Ake will be ruled out of this weekend’s contest, while Manuel Akanji is subject to a late fitness assessment.
Those new blows are added to the shorter-term problems being managed by both John Stones and Mateo Kovacic, who remain sidelined for Manchester City this weekend with the latter expected to return in the coming days and the former handling a foot injury.
Rounding off those on the treatment table for the Premier League champions are Rodri and Oscar Bobb, with both not expected to return until 2025 and the former perhaps not featuring again this season despite his own personal intentions.