John Stones, a Manchester City player, will not participate in the upcoming Premier League match against Chelsea this Sunday. However, his coach, Pep Guardiola, stated that his injury is not as serious as initially thought. After returning to competition following an absence from 11 of City's first 12 matches, Stones left the field at halftime during the 3-0 victory over Young Boys in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Guardiola remarked after the match that "the defender's injury has worsened, but he seemed more optimistic this Friday." He added, "The doctor told me that the situation isn't that bad, but I still don’t know." Defender Manuel Akanji trained this Friday, alleviating concerns regarding his own injury.
The defending champions returned to the top of the league earlier this week with 27 points from 11 matches, just one point ahead of Tottenham. Chelsea currently sits in tenth place with 15 points but received a significant morale boost from their 4-1 victory over Tottenham.
Guardiola commented on Chelsea: "They play with attacking intensity and have good patterns; they are not close to winning the league (at the moment), but they are one of the strongest teams and one of the toughest matches we face this season." He added, "They showed in the last match that they are vibrant and competitive with attacking ferocity. We will try to maintain our level, but Chelsea will compete for titles (again) sooner or later, there’s no doubt about that."
