Manchester City duo ruled out of Brentford clash as Pep Guardiola offers fitness update

Pep Guardiola will be without two members of his first-team squad against Brentford on Tuesday night, in a relatively unchanged scenario from the weekend.

Manchester City thought they had reached the tail-end of their injury problems during the month of January, with all of Jeremy Doku, Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, and John Stones returning from respective issues.

However, following a very short-lived spell with a fully-fit squad, Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff are having to handle some issues within the team, with the latest problem being sustained by Jack Grealish in the UEFA Champions League.

The England international forward has endured a challenging season on a consistency front with problems regarding fitness hampering his availability, and the latest issue being a muscular problem sustained in the opening 25 minutes of the clash in Copenhagen last week.

Speaking ahead of Manchester City’s latest Premier League encounter and fresh off the back of a 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Saturday evening, Pep Guardiola has provided the very latest on his squad’s fitness.

On the availability of Jack Grealish and Josko Gvardiol, Guardiola responded, “They are not ready for tomorrow.”

The rest of the Manchester City squad is said to be fit and ready for the visit of Thomas Frank’s side however, meaning Bernardo Silva and John Stones will remain available following their place on the substitutes bench during the visit of Mauricio Pochettino’s men.

While reports had indicated that Grealish could be out for up to three weeks, Pep Guardiola has since clarified that there is now greater hope that he could return to duties within 10 days, throwing him into consideration for the visit of Manchester United on 3 March.

As for Josko Gvardiol, the Croatian defender is currently nursing an ankle ligament problem, and could yet face a further fortnight of recovery before next featuring for Manchester City in any competition.