John Stones is the latest Manchester City player to withdraw from international duty, adding to Pep Guardiola’s mounting injury issues at the start of the season.
England manager Thomas Tuchel confirmed that centre-back Stones has a minor muscular issue that will keep him out of this week’s fixtures against Andorra and Serbia.
Stones has started City’s first three games of the season, his best run since February, but has now suffered another setback which could make him a doubt for next weekend’s derby against Manchester United.
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Pep Guardiola has a number of injury concerns to deal with ahead of the first Manchester derby of the season, with Rayan Cherki definitely ruled out for two months.
Pep Guardiola warned of Manchester City injuries ‘destroying’ their season, prediction already coming true
City headed to the USA in June for the FIFA Club World Cup, just three weeks after the end of the Premier League season. Their run to the last-16 restricted their pre-season preparations to just one friendly.
After winning their opening Premier League fixture comfortably at Wolves, City have lost their last two games against Tottenham and Brighton to sit 13th in the table as injuries already start to bite.
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Thomas Tuchel said over the summer that Liverpool and Arsenal would have a ‘huge advantage’ in the Premier League having not competed at the Club World Cup. And Guardiola had warned of injury issues derailing their season.
In June, he said: “Maybe in November, December or January it will be a disaster and we are exhausted and the World Cup has destroyed us. I don’t know, it’s the first time in our lives that this has happened. We will see when we come back”
Ten Man City players could miss derby vs Manchester United after John Stones adds to injury list
City already have Rayan Cherki out and Mateo Kovacic still recovering from surgery over the summer. Savinho has missed the first three games of the season, although the winger is back in training.
"He came with minor issues – muscle issues – to camp and didn’t progress as we thought and hoped he would, so he left camp this morning."
Thomas Tuchel confirms that John Stones has withdrawn from our #ThreeLions squad:
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Stones is the latest player to withdraw from international duty as a precaution following fellow defenders Rico Lewis, Abdukodir Khusanov, and Rayan Ait-Nouri.
Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden were not selected for their countries for fitness reasons, while Nico O’Reilly also pulled out of England under-21 duty alongside Lewis.
That could leave Pep Guardiola with a small group to select from when City welcome United to the Etihad on September 14.