Bournemouth vs Man City injury and team news: Six doubts and five ruled out

Pep Guardiola has said Kevin De Bruyne could be back in time for Manchester City’s trip to Bournemouth this weekend, but it looks likely that John Stones and Aymeric Laporte will miss out.

The Blues dropped back to second in the Premier League last week following a 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest, with Arsenal’s win at Villa Park seeing them leapfrog the champions in the table. City could trail the Gunners by five points by the time they face Bournemouth at 5:30pm, with Mikel Arteta’s side travelling to Leicester City for a 3pm kick-off.

Speaking ahead of the game, Guardiola was asked for a fitness update on the trio who missed the midweek trip to RB Leipzig.

“We have training this afternoon, I think Kevin is back in training, Aymer I don't think so,” the Catalan said on Friday. “John maybe will do partial training. This is the info I had from the doctors this morning, I will know within the next hours. We will see. Maybe Kevin, but the other two, I don’t think so.”

Laporte and De Bruyne missed Wednesday’s Champions League game due to illness, while Stones hasn’t played since January because of a hamstring injury. Other than that, it’s a full-strength squad for Guardiola, who is likely to name his best team at the Vitality and rotate in midweek against Bristol City.

As for Bournemouth, Gary O’Neil confirmed on Friday that Marcus Tavernier is out with a hamstring injury. “Marcus Tavernier will be missing for the weekend,” said the Cherries boss.

“He was coming off anyway against Wolves [last week] before he got injured, but he did feel pain in his other hamstring. He’s had some tests done this week and it’s a blow, but there are a few more to come next week. We’re hopeful that it’s not too serious.”

There are several other doubts for Bournemouth this weekend. Jefferson Lerma is expected to return after he was withdrawn in last week’s loss to Wolves due to illness. “Jeff was ill very close to kick-off, so it was a bit late to change him from the starting XI,” O’Neil said after the game. “But he wasn’t feeling very well so we knew we might have to change him. At half time he was struggling, so we have to change.”

Jordan Zemura also has a knock, while Junior Stanislas is closing in on a return to the squad after a long-term injury. Lloyd Kelly, Lewis Cook and David Brooks are definitely out with long-term problems, while O’Neil confirmed on Friday that Illia Zabarnyi remians out.

Doubts: Zemura, Lerma, Stanislas (Bournemouth); Stones Laporte, De Bruyne ( City)

Ruled out: Zabarnyi, Kelly, Cook, Brooks, Tavernier (Bournemouth)