The Croatian defender sustained the injury in the second half of the 1-1 draw with Chelsea, and had to be substituted immediately.

Gvardiol is likely to miss the remainder of the season, and his participation in this summer's World Cup is also in doubt.

It comes as a major blow to Pep Guardiola, who is already missing a number of senior players through injury, whilst Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush are still on international duty.

Gvardiol had been an integral part of the defence that has seen the Blues undefeated in their last ten games in all competitions, and his injury is a major blow to City's title aspirations. Max Alleyne has been recalled from a loan spell at Watford, whilst the club may also make a January move for Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi.

A statement on the club website read: "Manchester City FC can confirm that Josko Gvardiol has suffered a tibial fracture to his right leg.

The defender will have surgery later this week and assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the injury and expected prognosis.

Everyone at the Club wishes Josko a speedy recovery and mancity.com will bring you regular updates regarding his rehabilitation."

Most frustratingly for City is perhaps the fact that they were dominant for much of the game and could not make enough of the chances they had count. Haaland was unable to find the back of the net again, with a header being deflected wide in the 20th minute before he missed a golden chance a few minutes later, hitting the post after a good ball in from Reijnders. City eventually broke the deadlock in the 39th minute, when Cherki passed the ball upfield to Reijnders, who turned and bolted the ball into the back of the net at the near post to give City the lead just before half-time. City’s dominance in the first half had something to show for it. Unfortunately, the second half had a different story.

The first of City’s second half problems came in the 50th minute when Gvardiol went down on the halfway line. Before long it was clear that he was in some pain. The Croatian centre-back could not continue and had to be escorted off the pitch due to the severity of the pain. Khusanov was his replacement. Reijnders was later replaced by Doku to find a second goal.

Foden was played in by Doku who attempted to square the ball to Haaland in a very dangerous position, but his pass was intercepted. He also attempted to play Haaland in minutes later, but the pass was once again intercepted by the Chelsea defence. It had not been the attacks day, with Cherki also struggling to beat his man on many occasions.

City had been mostly solid defensively, with Khusanov impressing after coming on and managing to keep out the Chelsea attack, frustrating Chelsea forward Liam Delap. More defensive woes came for City later, with Ruben Dias needing to come off with an injury as well. Nathan Ake replaced him.

In stoppage time, the Blues were made to pay for not making their domination count. Gusto crossed a ball into the box which found Enzo Fernandez. The Argentine’s initial attempt was saved by Donnarumma before knocking in the rebound to make it 1-1 in the dying moments of the game. A dagger for City. The Blues could not find a winner in the time left and two more crucial points were dropped.

The gap between Arsenal and City/Aston villa who are level on points is six, all with the same number of games played. While the gap is salvageable, the injuries to Gvardiol and Dias have provided extra blows to City’s squad and may have to deal without their starting centre back partnership for quite some time. City face Brighton in midweek next in the Premier League and will then face United away in their next league fixture.

Competition: F.A. Premier League

Date: 5.30pm, Sunday 4th January 2026

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Referee: Michael Oliver Assistants: S Burt, N Greenhalgh Fourth Official: S Hooper VAR: D England

Odds: City 8/13, Draw 10/3, Chelsea 7/2

Tickets: Sold out

TV: Sky Sports

Manchester City

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Squad (from): Donnarumma, Trafford, Bettinelli, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Khusanov, Lewis, Reijnders, Cherki, Gonzalez, Rodri, Silva, Nunes, O'Reilly, Foden, Mukasa, Haaland, Doku, McAidoo, J Heskey, R Heskey

Injured: Kovacic, Stones, Bobb, Savinho

Doubtful: Gonzalez

Suspended: None

Unavailable: Marmoush, Ait-Nouri (AFCON)

Form guide: DWWWW

Chelsea

Manager: Calum McFarlane (temporary)

Squad (from): Sanchez, Jorgensen, Slonina, Cucurella, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Hato, Chalobah, James, Gusto, Fofana, Acheampong, Fernandez, Palmer, Santos, Buonatorre, Lavia, Neto, Delpa, Gittens, Pedro, George, Guiu, Estevao, Garnacho

Injured: Colwill, Essugo

Doubtful: Cucarella, Lavia, Hato

Suspended: Mudryk, Caicedo

Form guide: DLDWW

City will be without Savinho for the visit of Chelsea on Sunday evening. The Brazilian winger sustained an injury during the goalless draw against Sunderland, and joins Mateo Kovacic, John Stones, and Oscar Bobb on the sidelines.

Nico Gonzalez is also a doubt after picking up a knock at the Stadium of Light, whilst Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri are still away with their respctive national for the African Cup of Nations.

“In this period to have two games away is so demanding,” Guardiola said at Friday's press conference.

“You know, Christmas times always happen and it has been a tough two games at Nottingham Forest and [at Sunderland], so yeah, we have to see.

“[There’s] not much time. We’ll see what happened. Rodri is back and Jeremy - both have come from long, long injuries. So we have to be careful.

“[I will] talk with the doctors, with the physios and we will see. We miss Savinho, but yeah, more difficulties and the more stronger we will be.”

City won their last home game against Chelsea 3-1, with Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland, and Phil Foden scoring for the Blues. Overall City have won 68 of the 180 games played against Chelsea, with 41 draws and 71 defeats.

Predicted line-up: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Gonzalez, Silva, Foden, Cherki, Doku, Haaland

Score prediction: City 2 Chelsea 1

It didn’t take long for the Blues to take the lead, with Haaland scoring in just the 4th minute when Foden passed it into him and his initial attempt was saved before sending home the rebound to make it 1-0. Just the start that City wanted. A few moments later, Haaland had the chance to double the lead and get his second goal when Cherki’s cross found his head but his attempt went wide.

There were periods of the game where West Ham had possession and managed to gain a few chances out of this, but were unable to hit the target, with the closest they came to doing so in the first half was an attempt from Bowen which strayed just wide across the face of goal.

City were able to double their lead in the 37th minute after Cherki dispossessed West Ham near the box and dribbled in and passed to Haaland who laid it off to Reijnders who put the ball in the roof of the net to double City’s lead before half-time. 2-0

At the start of the second half, West Ham almost very nearly hit back when Bowen passed the ball into Potts, whose shot was well saved by Donnarumma before rebounding to Fernandes whose shot went flying over the bar. West Ham gained another clear-cut chance shortly after with Bowen breaking away from O’Reilly to be through on goal but his shot was wide of the post, similar to his opportunity in the first half.

After a range of substitutions, City were able to put the game to bed through a second Haaland goal after Savio ran into the box and after the West Ham defences attempt to dispossess the City attack was unsuccessful the ball fell to the Norwegian striker to bang in his second goal of the game, capping off an excellent performance from both himself and for City. He had the chance to get his hat-trick late on, but his shot was narrowly wide.

The win moves City into top of the table with Arsenal still to play and gives them their seventh consecutive win in a row. To some relief, the Blues now have a whole week without a fixture, allowing some time to rest and for injured players to recover more before the second half of the season gets underway. Next up for the Blues in their last game of 2025 will be Nottingham Forest away next Saturday.

Competition: F.A. Premier League

Date: 3.00pm, Saturday 20th December 2025

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Referee: Paul Tierney Assistants: R West, M Perry Fourth Official: L Smith VAR: A Chilowicz

Odds: City 2/9, Draw 6/1, West Ham 10/1

Tickets: Available via tickets.mancity.com

TV: Match of the Day

Manchester City

Manager: Pep Guardiola

Squad (from): Donnarumma, Trafford, Bettinelli, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Khusanov, Lewis, Mfuni, Braithwaite, Reijnders, Cherki, Gonzalez, Silva, Nunes, O'Reilly, Foden, Gray, Mukasa, Haaland, Savinho, McAidoo

Injured: Kovacic, Rodri, Stones, Doku, Bobb

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Unavailable: Ait-Nouri, Marmoush (both ACON)

Form guide: WWWWW

West Ham

Manager: Nuno Espírito Santo

Squad (from): Hermansen, Areola, Walker-Peters, Kilman, Julio, Mavropanos, Todibo, Scarles, Ward-Prowse, Paqueta, Fernandes, Rodriguez, Magassa, Soucek, Potts, Irving, Earthy, Summerville, Wilson, Fullkrug, Guilherme, Bowen, Marshall

Injured: Fabianksi

Doubtful: Fullkrug

Suspended: None

Unavailable: Diouf, Wan-Bissaka (both ACON)

Form guide: LDDLD

City are missing seven senior players as West Ham visit The Etihad on Saturday afternoon.

Rodri and Mateo Kovacic are joined on the sidelines by John Stones, Jeremy Doku and Oscar Bobb. Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush have joined up with their respective national teams ahaead of the African Cup of Nations.

West Ham have struggled so far this season, and are currently in the relegation places, but manager Pep Guardiola is mindful of the threat posed by the Hammers.

“We are prepared. They didn’t get enough [good] results, but they have drawn lately at Old Trafford and Brighton, and we know how difficult they are.” he said at Friday's press conference.

“They only lost at the end against Aston Villa [last weekend], who look almost unstoppable right now.

“Always they have top class players. So huge respect [for West Ham], but at the same time we’re ready.

“I said before one month ago, even when the results were not good, [that the vibes were really good],

“Many things are positive, the way we play we are not at the level required to win title [right now] but the margin is there to improve and that is nice.

“We can do better. I think we got results but there are a lot of things we need to do better.”

City won their last home game against West Ham 4-1, with goals from Erling Haaland (2), Phil Foden and an own goal. Overall City have won 65 of the 122 games played against the Hammers, with 19 draws and 38 defeats.

Predicted line-up: Donnarumma, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly, Gonzalez, Silva, Foden, Cherki, Savinho, Haaland

Score prediction: City 3 West Ham 1

Brentford started relatively well, pinning the City defence in their half and applied the pressure. In one instance, a contentious call was made when Khusanov fouled Schade on the edge of the box. Despite Brentford’s pleas that the Uzbeki defender should’ve been shown a red card for committing a last man denial of a goal scoring opportunity challenge, the referee only brought out a yellow card for the defender. A big let off early on for Khusanov and City.

A few moments later, Oscar Bobb came down with an injury and needed to be substituted. Phil Foden replaced the Norwegian

The Blues recovered from the early Brentford pressure and managed to get more control in the game. It was clear it would take something special to break Brentford’s defensive approach. In the 32nd minute, a city corner was cleared by Brentford and fell straight to Cherki. The Frenchman took a shot from outside of the box which flew into the top right corner to give the Blues the lead and break the deadlock.

City were dominant for much of the game after their goal and were relatively untroubled by Brentford despite only having a one goal lead for a chunk of the second half. Eventually after substitutions were made, the Blues would finally get their second through Savio who ran down the line past and took a shot in the box which deflected off Brentford defender Ajer and over the head of the keeper to make it 2-0 and seal the win for City.

The Blues remained comfortable following the second goal and were able to keep the clean sheet too to avoid a nervy finish, with Brentford still struggling to offer any sort of threat towards the end of the game.

City’s progression to the Carabao Cup semi-finals is now the furthest they have made it in the competition since 2021, when they last won the League Cup. They will face Chelsea, Newcastle or Arsenal/Crystal Palace in the semi-finals. Next up for the Blues will be West Ham on Saturday in the Premier League, with the opportunity to go top of the table temporarily with the game taking place before Arsenal play to continue applying the pressure at the top.

Crystal Palace started the game better, having a range of chances to get themselves in front, notably with Yeremy Pino hitting the bar early on in the game as well as a chance for Sarr 1v1 with Donnarumma, but the goalkeeper made a well-timed challenge to push the threat away.

Despite the early onslaught from the home side, the Blues kept composed and virtually out of nowhere managed to get themselves in front after a cross in from Nunes found Haaland, who headed it past the reach of Henderson to make it 1-0 and put City in control before halftime.

In the second half following City’s first goal, the Blues were more in control but Palace did have their chances to equalise, with Wharton hitting the post and multiple other efforts that went begging but City’s defence managed to stay firm and keep the Palace players out. In the 68th minute, Cherki had the ball and dribbled through three or four Palace players with ease before laying it off to Foden who struck the ball into the bottom right corner to double City’s advantage. Despite having less big chances, the Blues were more clinical and were rewarded for this.

Palace continued to try and salvage something out of the match, but their lack of finishing let them down on this occasion and in the 89th minute, the Eagles were dispossessed in City’s box after a clearance led to Savio receiving the ball and accelerating away until he was 1v1 with Henderson. The Brazilian winger attempted to dribble the ball round the goalkeeper but was brought down in doing so and the referee immediately pointed to the spot for a City penalty. Henderson was booked for the challenge. Haaland stepped up and sent Henderson the wrong way to cap off a brilliant victory for the Blues at Selhurst park.

With the victory, City remain 2 points off Arsenal, who only just managed to defeat bottom of the table Wolves 2-1 in their game on Saturday evening. The Blues will hope that with continued pressure, cracks will continue to appear in this Arsenal side but know they will need to be careful to not be complacent themselves and will focus on getting the job done in their fixtures, with West Ham at home next in the League.