Guardiola confirms that City have new cases but doesn't name players who have tested positive
Manchester City vs Chelsea
Competition: F.A. Premier League
Date: 12.30 pm, Saturday 15th January 2022
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Referee: Craig Pawson Assistants: L Betts, R West Fourth Official: J Moss VAR: D England
Odds: City 7/10, Draw 11/4, Chelsea 4/1
Tickets: On sale via tickets.mancity.com
TV: BT Sport
Manchester City
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Squad (from): Ederson, Steffen, Carson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, Laporte, Cancelo, Gundogan, Grealish, Rodri, De Bruyne, Silva, Fernandinho, Foden, Palmer, Sterling, Jesus
Injured: Delap
Doubtful: Stones, Zinchenko, Foden, Sterling
Suspended: Mendy
Unavailable: Mahrez (AFCON)
Form guide: WWWWW
Chelsea
Manager: Thomas Tuchel
Squad (from): Arrizabalaga, Bettinelli, Bergstrom, Rudiger, Alonso, Silva, Azpilicueta, Sarr, Jorginho, Kante, Kovacic, Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Niguez, Barkley, Mount, Ziyech, Havertz, Lukaku, Werner, Hudson-Odoi
Injured: James, Chilwell, Chalobah, Christensen
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Unavailable: Mendy (AFCON)
Form guide: DDWWW
Riyad Mahrez is unavailable due to Algeria's participation in the African Cup of Nations, whilst City have had a fresh Covid outbreak this week. Manager Pep Guardiola, however, declined to say which players had been affected.
“We have some new cases, yeah, but we want privacy, I can’t tell you [who is out].
“We are used to it, unfortunately, to handling this situation for a long time. It’s happened for one or two years.
“We adapt and hopefully the cases are handled and players come back in a good condition.
Guardiola reacted angrily to suggestions by Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel that his side had somehow been less affected by Covid than their rivals:
“I think the COVID is all around the world. It is not that in this part of the world there is no COVID. That is not true.
“We had a lot of cases and a lot of injuries. We played Aston Villa with 11 first-team players.
“The last four or five games we played with academy players on the bench. We are in the same situation as all other clubs.
“Injuries may be less because our medical department is incredible. But in terms of COVID, we are the same.
“It is not that we are smarter or wiser or do the protocols better. When the virus comes into the bubble, everyone suffers. There’s no exception.”
City lost their last home league game against Chelsea 2-1, with Raheem Sterling scoring for the Blues. Overall City have won 60 of the 170 games played against Chelsea, with 39 draws and 71 defeats.
Predicted line-up: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Cancelo, Rodri, Gundogan, Bernardo, De Bruyne, Foden, Sterling
Score prediction: City 1 Chelsea 1