Just in: Guardiola confirms Manchester City squad decision ahead of Chelsea clash
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel’s men have already played three of the so-called big six, convincingly beating Arsenal and Tottenham and drawing with the Reds at Anfield.
However, Another big test follows their midweek Carabao Cup clash with Aston Villa. Manchester City were convincing winners of the Premier League last season and Pep Guardiola and co. will visit Stamford Bridge on Saturday lunch-time.
However, City have a number of problems stacking up. Not only has Guardiola continued to rile his own fanbase with comments on the Etihad attendances, but injuries have hit the club hard.
“I don’t have any alternative (but to play youngsters). We are going to play a few young players,” the Spaniard said, reported by the club’s official website.
“Some players might rest for the games we have coming up ahead of us and yeah a few players from the Academy are going to play.
““We have John [Stones], Aymeric [Laporte], Oleks [Zinchenko], Rodri – I think Gundo [Ilkay Gundogan] – all of them injured.
“Ruben [Dias] played all of the minutes so far and Joao [Cancelo] played all of the minutes, too, so I don’t think they will be able to play in this game.”
Chelsea will have already been in confident mood heading in to this clash before Guardiola announced his injury list.
Not only are the Blues currently in a rich vein of form but Tuchel also has an outstanding record against his opposite number since taking his position in the Chelsea dugout.
The two sides have met three times since his appointment and on all three occasions the west Londoners have come out on top, including in the Champions League final back in May.
A few injury problems persist for Tuchel, however, with first-choice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy facing a race to be fit for Saturday while Christian Pulisic also remains sidelined.