Two injured Manchester City players are now “good” ahead of Aston Villa clash confirms Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

In a week that has brought plenty of bad news both on and off the pitch for Manchester City in terms of results and injury developments, Friday issued a mixed bag of updates.

The Premier League champions travel to Villa Park on Saturday afternoon for the early lunchtime kick-off slot against Unai Emery’s Aston Villa side, hoping to add some positivity to an 11-game run that has brought eight defeats for the club.

Last time out it was disappointment issued by Manchester United in the derby day clash at the Etihad Stadium, with late goals from Bruno Fernandes and Amad Diallo cancelling out Josko Gvardiol’s first-half opener.

That defeat left Manchester City in fifth position in the Premier League table, nine points behind the current leaders Liverpool who also have a game in hand on all of the teams around them following the postponement of their meeting with Everton earlier this month.

And as Manchester City prepare to get back to action in the Premier League with a meeting against Aston Villa this weekend, there has been a mixed bag of updates on the status of Pep Guardiola’s squad.

Speaking to the media on Friday afternoon during his pre-match press conference, Guardiola revealed that two previously injured central defenders have returned to training this week and are in contention for involvement against Aston Villa.

“Yeah, he’s good,” Guardiola responded on the subject of Manuel Akanji, who was spotted returning to Manchester City’s first-team training session on Thursday afternoon ahead of the trip to Villa Park.

The Catalan coach continued, “Manu (Akanji), John (Stones) they are back, training in the last two days, so that’s good for us.”

Guardiola was further quizzed on the return of Stones and Mateo Kovacic to the Manchester City bench last weekend against Manchester United, to which he responded, “Yeah, it’s good. Yeah, of course (it’s a boost). As much players will come back, it’s better.”

With Ruben Dias now ruled out of action for up to one month with a muscular injury sustained against Manchester United last weekend, Guardiola may opt to start either of the returning central defenders from the off against Aston Villa.

Although, the 53-year-old will be conscious about rushing either player back too fast and risking an aggravation to recent injury problems, particularly given how light the squad already is at present and with fixtures coming thick and fast in the next few weeks.