Manchester City lost a lead, a point, and maybe a lot more in a span of 41 minutes of Sunday, as star defenders Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias were injured prior to Enzo Fernandez’s stoppage-time equalizer for Chelsea in a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium.
MORE —Man City v Chelsea player ratings | Pep Guardiola reaction
Already dealing with fixture congestion and set for a very busy January, Pep Guardiola’s men are looking at a six-point gap between them and leaders Arsenal on the Premier League table.
That normally wouldn’t be a huge obstacle for a Man City team in the Guardiola era, but the fate of several trophy races may shift if the boss is right and the team will miss their two best center backs for “a few weeks.”
“When you have all the squad, you can compete and rotate but now it is a situation.I cannot change it. Of course I have concerns, did you see the bench today? Three academy players and now it will be more. We don’t have players, that’s the truth.”
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Pep Guardiola
After all, City have already been navigating life without AFCON participants Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri. They now have have huge depth issues in two huge areas. In addition to center back, where John Stones was out prior to the Gvardiol and Dias injuries, City’s middle of the park is missing Mateo Kovacic. Guardiola had to use Rodri for 90 minutes on Sunday — good news, he was fantastic — while Nico Gonzalez heals from a minor leg injury.
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Guardiola only used three subs on Sunday — Abdukhodir Khusanov and Nathan Ake for Gvardiol and Dias, and Jeremy Doku for Tijjani Reijnders — as his unused players were Rico Lewis, Stephen Mfuni, Divine Mukasa, Ryan McAidoo, and Reigan Heskey. Lewis’ usage is way down this season, Mukasa is 18, and the other three players are 17.
To top it off, City could get by with Nico O’Reilly — a fullback in name only — because of the steadiness and power of Gvardiol and Dias. And we’ll find out soon whether the same can be said for Matheus Nunes at right back.
That leaves one big question: Can Man City navigate this month without any notable transfer incomings?
Manchester City’s January: What’s at stake?
Let’s start with the good news: Nico Gonzalez should be back quite soon and there’s hope that Stones can be back as well. Kovacic may be out until February but Savinho and Oscar Bobb could return in a couple of weeks, when Ait-Nouri and Marmoush could return from AFCON (Both Algeria and Egypt have quarterfinals over the next 24-48 hours.
Oh, and some guy named Antoine Semenyo could be arriving any day now. Allegedly.
And their run looks fairly navigable, for a couple of weeks. If there’s good news on Gvardiol and Dias, especially if Ait-Nouri’s Algeria don’t make a super deep AFCON run, it may not be dire. If the news isn’t so good, well....
Here is City’s next month of fixtures for your perusal:
Weds, January 7: Premier League vs Brighton
Saturday, January 10: FA Cup vs Exeter City
Tuesday, January 13: League Cup semi first leg at Newcastle
Saturday, January 17: Premier League at Man United
Tuesday, January 20: Champions League at Bodo/Glimt
Saturday, January 24: Premier League vs Wolves
Wednesday, January 28: Champions League vs Galatasaray
Sunday, February 1: Premier League at Spurs
Wednesday, February 4: League Cup semi second leg vs Newcastle
Sunday, February 8: Premier League at Liverpool
Let’s break it down comp-by-comp.
Champions League: City are fourth on the Champions League table with a 4-1-1 record. That’s one point clear of the playoff places. Bodo/Glimt are 0-3-3 but have not been embarrassed in any game. Galatasaray are unbeaten and have beaten Liverpool but also lost at home to Union-Saint Gillioise.
FA Cup: You can bet on Guardiola using the kids at home to Exeter City, who are 14th in League One and barely scoring a goal per game. With a trip to Brighton and semifinal first leg with Newcastle surrounding their third round tie, City should take the old Jurgen Klopp approach and choose almost no one of PL consequence in his Starting XI. The good news? A win won’t add another game to this brutal stretch as the fourth round is set for the middle of February.
League Cup: Pep could play it safe in the first leg at St. James’ Park, where Newcastle are tough and City’s had it rough over the last few years. City are 1-2-2 at Newcastle since August 2022, a run which includes a 1-0 loss to the Magpies in the League Cup third round. The second leg also comes smack in the middle of two brutal PL fixtures — Spurs and Liverpool away — so Guardiola could also just deprioritize this competition altogether.
Premier League: Here’s where it’s the toughest. Three of the five games over the next month (ish) are away to traditional Big Six rivals: Man United in two weeks and then Spurs and Liverpool in the first eight days of February. Home matches against Brighton and Wolves are friendlier and come at good times on the fixture list.
Extended HLs: Man City v. Chelsea Matchweek 20
Relive full-match highlights from Chelsea's battle with Manchester City at the Etihad to wrap up Matchweek 20.
Manchester City’s January: Does Pep need transfers?
Let’s assume that City add Semenyo, bringing a change-of-pace forward who will give the team yet another dimension for opponents.
Should this week’s Dias/Gvardiol scare be a sign to bring in one more defensive body?
Stones and Ake are both in their 30s, and City’s cover at right and left back at the moment is youthful and inexperienced besides Gvardiol and Khusanov — guys they may need at center back.
I would argue that City need to learn from last season and buy someone who can play left and right back in a pinch? Nunes, Lewis, and Khusanov were among the only negative differential players for City last Premier League season (O’Reilly, for what it’s worth was positive bu +0.51 goals/90 mins). This season, there are less minus players than last season but Nunes (-0.08 g/90) and O’Reilly (a team-worst -0.79 g/90) are among them.
It’s virtually impossible to picture this City not having a notable weakness at one full back position in any big game this season. If Stones, Dias, and Gvardiol are healthy that could cover left back but it still leaves the team with Nunes, Khusanov, or Lewis starting in a big game at right back (Guardiola, of course, might start anyone there because he loves a weird big game wrinkle).
City were linked with Spurs’ Pedro Porro last month but it would be wild of Thomas Frank to sanction that move unless he had a replacement loaded up so at the very least that wouldn’t be a fast-moving deal. The same report mentioned Newcastle’s Tino Livramento but the Magpies certainly wouldn’t move him in-season.
Another report said Feyenoord teen Givairo Read is a long-term option at right back but at 19 doesn’t exactly solve the aforementioned problems.
Can Pep win the league with a fullback corps of Ait-Nouri, O’Reilly, Nunes, and Lewis? It’s not impossible, but to imagine City getting the job done on that front and others feels so implausible. City should act this month as they look to keep heat on title-inexperienced Arsenal into the cold English winter.
Fernandez brings Chelsea level in 94th minute
It's bedlam in the Chelsea away end at the Etihad as Enzo Fernandez's third attempt on goal sneaks past Gianluigi Donnarumma to make it 1-1 against Manchester City in injury time.