Pep Guardiola has confirmed for the first time that Manchester City have suffered from Covid infections over the Christmas period – with Kyle Walker and Rodri among those affected.
Both were back in the squad for today’s crucial 2-1 win at Arsenal, with Rodri scoring a late winner to down the Gunners, and Walker remaining on the subs bench.
Phil Foden and Aleks Zinchenko were not on the trip after apparently testing positive yesterday, while John Stones has also been absent for two weeks with an unspecified problem.
City made it plain that they would not be revealing whether players have been forced to isolate with Covid, for reasons of medical confidentiality, although Kevin de Bruyne volunteered the information when he returned from international duty with Belgium with a dose of the virus in November.
But Guardiola, who has stuck to the club line that players were “not fully fit” broke with that when he explained that his squad was down to its bare bones, making just three changes from the midweek win over Brentford.
“Just take a look at our bench, four players from the academy,” he said, referring to Cole Palmer, Luke Mbete, Kayky and James McAtee.
“We had many cases for Covid and injuries – Phil Foden. Kyle and Rodri were first days today from Covid time. In this period today we were incredibly tired. Arsenal were better today but football happens.”
Illness for Foden and Zinchenko ruled them out of today’s game but the fact that City’s next game is the FA Cup third round tie at Swindon next Friday means they are likely to only miss that game and be back for the resumption of the Premier League against Chelsea on January 15.
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