Pep Guardiola must feel a little relief that Manchester City’s Premier League campaign is drawing to a close, given the number of injury problems he currently has to contend with.
The champions will ensure they retain their crown for another year if they can beat Aston Villa at home in this Sunday’s final round of league fixtures.
City head into the game one point clear of second-placed Liverpool, who host Wolverhampton Wanderers at the same time this weekend.
A victory for Guardiola over Steven Gerrard’s men would wrap up a fourth English top-flight title for the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager, and mean only Manchester United have won the Premier League more often than their near neighbours.
But City’s chances of beating the Villans haven’t been helped by the injury problems they have at the back, with five of the current seven first-team defenders either unavailable for Sunday, or struggling with recent knocks.
It means there will be some form of adjustment in defence, much as there was in the recent games against Wolves and West Ham United.
But how many players will be available for Sunday’s title decider? We’ve got the latest on seven recent injury concerns for Guardiola…
5. Cole Palmer
Not a defender, but the City youngster hasn’t played since January after picking up an injury. Palmer does appear to have recovered from the worst of that and has been named on the bench in recent weeks, without being introduced.
6. John Stones
Has struggled with a muscular issue for nearly a month and wasn’t expected to return in time for Sunday’s pivotal clash. However, Stones was spotted in training on Thursday and Guardiola said in his pre-match press conference he could feature.
7. Kyle Walker
Like Stones, it was assumed he would be missing through injury, but the full-back was involved in City training ahead of the Villa clash. Asked on Friday, Guardiola said: “We have incredible doctors and physios and they have recovered. They made a partial training and we will see tomorrow. It is good for us to have them back.”