Manchester City sustain fresh fitness scare in attack ahead of Liverpool showdown

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have sustained a fresh fitness scare in a week when they travel to face Premier League title rivals Liverpool at Anfield.

Manchester City take on two more matches in a hugely important March fixture list this week, with UEFA Champions League quarter-final qualification in their sights with a 3-1 advantage heading into the second-leg last-16 tie against FC Copenhagen.

The Danish club travel to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night knowing that they certainly have their work cut out, not only meeting the reigning champions of Europe, but also a side currently on a 19-game unbeaten run.

That clash precedes a huge meeting with league leaders Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, in a game that could now see Manchester City have to contend with a fresh injury scare within their attacking unit.

Taking part in an open training session in front of global media at the City Football Academy on Tuesday afternoon, it has been noted that Jeremy Doku became the latest player to be absent from the active first-team squad.

The Belgian forward joined Jack Grealish in playing no part in the session out on the CFA grass, with Pep Guardiola likely to be forced into a rethink of his options and threats on the left of his front-three for the visit of FC Copenhagen in particular.

Away from the two absentees, Pep Guardiola had a 23-man squad in training on Tuesday afternoon, with Josko Gvardiol once again maintaining his work towards full fitness having recovered from an ankle ligament problem.

Ederson, Stefan Ortega Moreno, and Scott Carson made up the goalkeeping contingent as expected, while eight names in defensive roles training as normal: Kyle Walker, Rico Lewis, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, Josko Gvardiol, Sergio Gomez.

A midfield unit consisting of Rodri, Mahamadou Susoho, Kevin De Bruyne, Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo Silva, Jacob Wright, and Manchester derby hero Phil Foden made up a large share of the training squad.

Erling Haaland, Micah Hamilton, Oscar Bobb, and Julian Alvarez also trained as normal and as expected.