Crucial Man City player at risk of suspension for Tottenham & Aston Villa matches

Manchester City return to action on Saturday when the champions host rivals Liverpool in a 12:30pm kick-off.

Pep Guardiola will be concerned with the sharp rise in injuries over the last few weeks, which could leave him light on numbers for the Liverpool encounter. Erling Haaland is the big uncertainty after he missed Norway’s game against Scotland with an ankle injury.

Meanwhile, Ederson, Nathan Ake, Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes pulled out of their respective international squads due to injury, in addition to the pre-existing issues suffered by John Stones, Sergio Gomez and Kevin De Bruyne.

But it’s not just injuries that could leave Guardiola missing players over the coming weeks, and one senior players is at risk of suspension for City. Rodri has picked up four yellow cards in the Premier League this season, meaning one more booking will result in an automatic one-match ban.

Rodri, of course, has already missed three games this season due to suspension, when he was sent off against Nottingham Forest. City lost all three matches in his absence, and Guardiola recently claimed his side would be ‘in trouble’ if they lined up without Rodri and Stones in the middle.

Should the Spaniard be cautioned against Liverpool, it means he’ll sit out the home game against Tottenham Hotspur next weekend. Alternatively, a booking against Spurs would see Rodri miss the midweek trip to Aston Villa on 6 December. After that, it’s Luton Town (10 December) and Crystal Palace (16 December) before City jet off to the Club World Cup.

As for Spurs, none of their players could incur a suspension by being booked this weekend, but Cristian Romero and Yves Bissouma are banned for the trip to Manchester following recent red cards. Meanwhile, Villa’s Lucas Digne, Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz are all on four bookings and are therefore suspension risks for the meeting at Villa Park in a few weeks.