Man City dealt injury blow ahead of Man Utd game as defender misses training

John Stones was absent from Manchester City training on Thursday as Pep Guardiola’s men prepare for the Manchester derby.

The defender was forced to be withdrawn in the first half of England’s 3-3 draw with Germany on Monday night, and appeared to grimace and hold his hamstring.

He was replaced by City team-mate Kyle Walker, with concerns even raised about the possibility of Stones missing the World Cup later this year if the injury is serious.

The former Everton centre-back was not involved in the latest City training session, as per Sky Sports, meaning Stones is a major doubt for Sunday’s clash with Manchester United.

However, in better news, Walker and Aymeric Laporte were spotted in training. The latter hasn’t featured at all this season as he has been recovering from a knee operation he underwent in the summer.

Laporte had returned to training prior to the international break but was not deemed fit enough to make the matchday squad against Wolverhampton Wanderers prior to the pause in the club season.

As for Walker, he featured twice for England over the break and there were no major concerns about his fitness ahead of the return to club football. However, the right-back last played for City on 3 September due to an injury he picked up in a 1-1 draw away to Aston Villa.

Walker was on the bench for the Wolves game two weeks ago, but was an unused substitute.

The only other injury concern for City is Kalvin Phillips, who Guardiola confirmed before the international break was likely to require surgery for a recurring shoulder injury.

It has subsequently been reported that the operation went ahead and was a success, but Phillips is not expected to be back for a few weeks at least.

City host United on Sunday in the first of 12 matches in the space of six weeks. The Blues face seven Premier League matches before the World Cup, will wrap up their Champions League group, and face Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.

Meanwhile, there has also been news from United’s training base ahead of the derby. Martin Dubravka, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Donny van de Beek, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial didn’t take part in the latest session despite not featuring for their respective countries over the last week, and are doubts for the derby.

So too, is Harry Maguire after he picked up a knock in the latter stages of England’s draw with Germany.