National World Top Stories Update Friday 24 October, 2025
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has given further insight into Rodri’s injury ahead of a weekend trip to Aston Villa.
The Premier League giants travel to Villa Park this Sunday (October 26) to take on Unai Emery’s side. Rodri, 29, has been out since suffering an injury in Man City’s 1–0 win over Brentford at the start of October.
In Rodri’s absence, Nico Gonzalez has been filling the defensive midfield role but was forced off after an hour in the Villarreal match, replaced by Mateo Kovacic. Guardiola said the club will monitor him before deciding if he can feature at Villa Park.
“I haven’t spoken with the doctors yet,” Guardiola said. “We’ll see today and tomorrow how he feels. It was something with his foot.”
Man City have won five of their eight league games so far and sit second in the table, three points behind Arsenal.
Guardiola added: “In the first two or three games we were done, and now it looks like Liverpool are done.
“I’ve said many times - the pundits and former players seem to know what’s going to happen after five games. I can’t do that. You need 10 or 15 games to really see what’s going on.
“Liverpool and Arsenal are there, someone else will be there, and hopefully we can be there too.”
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