Doku out for ‘a while’, says Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says Jeremy Doku will not be fit to face Club Brugge on Wednesday.

The Belgian winger missed both Wednesday’s trip to PSG and Saturday’s 3-1 Premier League victory over Chelsea through injury.

Ahead of another busy week for Guardiola’s team, the boss doesn’t expect to be able to call on the 22-year-old for our must-win Champions League clash in midweek and has doubts about his availability for next weekend’s trip to Arsenal.

Asked in his post-match press conference how long Doku will be out for, Guardiola said: “A while. I don’t know how much. But a while.

“He will not be ready for Wednesday for sure, I don’t think. For Arsenal, we’ll see.”

WATCH: Pep Guardiola post-match press-conference | Part two | City 3-1 Chelsea

There was positive news on the injury front on Saturday as John Stones made his first Premier League appearance since 21 December as a second-half substitute.

The England international was impressive after replacing debutant Abdukodir Khusanov in the 54th minute.

Khusanov had made an error for Chelsea’s goal early on but recovered well and Guardiola was quick to thank the 20-year-old for his efforts after fitness issues caused him to be thrown in at the deep end.

Asked whether Stones’ return is important for City’s immediate concerns, Guardiola said: “Absolutely. We continue with the problems. Khusanov should have not played, it takes time to do it. It’s not easy.

“Playing Chelsea in the Premier League, coming from a new country and not communicating much with the mates and no training sessions to see what we want to do and the process we want to have.

“It’s not easy to start in the way it started. Imagine we all lived what Khusanov has lived, and what happened!

“Ruben is not there, Nathan either, we are lucky Manu stayed fit and John can help us in our final on Wednesday.

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“There are players who are reliable and ones who have more injuries than other ones.

“Hopefully now, this time he [Stones] recovers better, we give him more time, he played really good this 35, 40 minutes and has to make an effort for Wednesday.

“We have to give time for Nathan and Ruben to come back as quickly as possible. But the situation is tough and will continue being tough.”