Manchester City: Guardiola says club faces 'emergency' for players

City are second in the Premier League, one point behind leaders Chelsea

City boss Pep Guardiola said City were currently in a "state of emergency" with only "14 or 15" senior players taking part in the Premier League trip to Aston Villa on Wednesday.

Barcelona target Ferrantores was sidelined with a foot injury and defender Emerick Laporte was suspended.

Despite testing negative after a round of matches in Covid-19, Kevin de Bruyne has yet to resume training and will not compete.

Phil Foden and Jack Grellish – who joined Manchester City from Villa for £100 million in the summer – are questionable.

Guardiola said they "can't play many minutes" even if their passes are healthy.

Entering the busiest period of the season, Guardiola was worried when nine Premier League games were squeezed into six weeks.

"We're in a state of emergency in the squad because we have very few, very few, very few people," he said

"When a player can't play because of an injury or a red card, we never complain because I believe very much in the team and other players can come in.

"But we had real trouble in December – it was the toughest month of the year. We only have 14 or 15 players. And a lot of the players played for a lot of minutes. ”

With Stones' health, Guardiola does have 15 players to play for Villa, even without Foden and Grellis.

In addition, youngsters Cole Palmer and James McTey are expected to be involved.

De Bruyne's absence is uncertain, with Guardiola saying the Belgian needs to do some work on the training ground to be considered.

"Kevin is back, but he needs time to get back to health," he said. "Everyone who has been infected with Covid explains that they are exhausted and need time, and Kevin is a player who needs to be physically fit, otherwise he cannot show his top qualities."