Pep Guardiola announced that Manchester City will be without injured Belgium winger Jeremy Doku until the new year.
Doku sustained a leg injury last week and missed City’s 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
Ahead of Wednesday’s League Cup quarter-final against Brentford, Guardiola confirmed Doku will be out of action for up to three weeks.
Asked about Doku’s return, Guardiola said, “Jeremy (will be out) two or three weeks. New year at Sunderland maybe.”
Doku’s absence is a significant setback for Guardiola during his most consistent season with City since joining from French club Rennes in 2023.
The 23-year-old has scored three goals and provided five assists, with his dynamic wing play aiding City striker Erling Haaland’s prolific campaign.
In addition
to missing Brentford’s visit to the Etihad Stadium, Doku will be sidelined for Premier League matches against West Ham on December 20 and Nottingham Forest on December 27.
City’s trip to Sunderland on January 1 is the earliest Doku might return.
Who Comes In?
Brazilian winger Savinho is expected to deputise for Doku after losing his place in recent weeks. He came off the bench to win a penalty against Palace, but Guardiola was more impressed with his work rate.
“He lost one or two balls and in two seconds he was a full-back,” Guardiola said.
“I was incredibly pleased. Two actions where he lost the ball he was a machine. He doesn’t like to listen, but I had to tell him.
“You come from the bench, you have to run double because the other guys are tired. Savinho is going to play a lot of minutes.”
Trailing leaders Arsenal by just two points in a tense title race, second-placed City cannot afford more injuries during the busy Christmas period.
With that in mind, Guardiola will make changes for the Brentford clash, which comes just 72 hours after the hard-fought win over Palace.
“We have some injuries, like John (Stones) and Jeremy. We will see. It’s one step to get to the semi-finals,” he said.
“Now we have less recovery. The players that didn’t play recently are going to play.
“Some from the academy will play, because then we play West Ham. I’m not saying it’s not a priority getting to the League Cup semi-finals, but normally when we achieve it it’s when we have no injuries and we can rotate the team.”
(With inputs from Agencies)
