Man Cityvs.Salford City

Earlier this week, Citizens supporters were boosted by the return to training of Oscar Bobb, who has been sidelined since August after sustaining a leg fracture during a non-contact situation in training.

Guardiola revealed in mid-December that the 21-year-old attacker would target a return to first-team action between January and February of 2025.

Meanwhile, Ruben Dias (muscle) and Ederson (knock) have missed Man City's last four games, and John Stones (ankle) has been sidelined for the last three matches, while Rodri is still recovering for what is expected to be a season-ending ACL injury.

Ahead of this weekend's clash with Salford, Guardiola has confirmed which players could be involved and which players remain in the treatment room.

Guardiola issues Bobb, Dias, Ederson, Stones update

Asked at a press conference on Friday if either Dias or Bobb could feature against Salford, Guardiola said: "Not yet. [Dias] feels better but not ready. I don't know when (he will return).

"[Bobb is] training with the team partially. That's good news for us. I don't know (when he will be back), but it's not muscular. It was a fractured bone.

"Now that is healed, he's fine. Now it's physical condition, but it's good news that he's back."

Guardiola has confirmed that Ederson is now "fine" which suggests that the goalkeeper could be involved this weekend, but Stones is not yet ready to return.

Meanwhile, Guardiola was asked about the possibility of star striker Erling Haaland being given a rest for their upcoming fixture against fourth-tier opposition.

Will Haaland be rested against Salford?

Haaland has played more minutes (2,386) than any other Man City player so far this season, scoring 21 goals in 27 games across all competitions, and has started in each of their last 14 matches dating back to the beginning of November.

"You will see tomorrow (if Haaland is rested)," said Guardiola. "He feels good, he had some niggles on the first day but we had seven days from West Ham to Salford and recover well, and the situation that we have we need everyone ready to go through."

He added: "This season I have the feeling that he is incredibly focussed and that's why we are focussed and the new target is to be fit, and then you are fit!"

Should Haaland be rested, Guardiola may be tempted to hand Divin Mubama his first-team debut for Man City after joining the club from West Ham United in August.

The 20-year-old most recently represented Man City Under-21s in a 3-2 win over Nottingham Forest in the premier League 2 last month, contributing to all three goals (two goals, one assist).

Guardiola may instead decide to play with a false nine, with Phil Foden or James McAtee in contention to occupy that role.

Meanwhile, Guardiola has responded to speculation about incomings in the January transfer window amid reported interest in Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis

Written by

Oliver Thomas