City unexpectedly arrived at Selhurst Park without Jeremy Doku on Sunday, as the winger was revealed to have picked up a leg injury.
Doku out
Guardiola’s side beat Crystal Palace 3-0 over the weekend to move to within two points of Arsenal at the top of the Premier League but the unfortunate news is that the Spaniard’s side will be without Doku for a number of weeks as he recovers.
“Jeremy Doku will be out again,” Guardiola said. “I don’t know when he will return… maybe I think New Year, Sunderland maybe, to be sure”.
How will Man City cope with so many missing players?
City will now also be without Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri for the next few weeks due to their 2025 African Cup of Nations call-ups with Egypt and Algeria respectively.
Guardiola commented on losing so many quality players ahead of the EFL Cup Quarter final against Brentford, and suggested he still has ambitions of reaching the final.
“James (Trafford) is going to play and all the players that didn’t play recently are going to play and some from the Academy because three days after that we have West Ham.
“I’m not saying it’s not the priority to get to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup, but normally when we achieve it, it’s when we have all the squad, no injuries and we can rotate.
“When you are one game away from the semi-finals, if you can take it, take it, because you never know when it’s coming back.
“We lost Rayan and Omar. We have some injuries like John and Rodri. We’ll see but we want to get to the semi-finals.”