Manchester City defensive trio ruled out of Aston Villa Premier League clash in fresh fitness blow

Pep Guardiola has announced that Manchester City will be without trio Ederson, Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake for Wednesday’s Premier League clash with Aston Villa.

Manchester City return to Premier League action on Wednesday evening, welcoming Aston Villa to the Etihad Stadium, with Unai Emery’s side the last team to beat the Sky Blues in any competition.

Pep Guardiola’s side suffered a thumping loss at Villa Park in the reverse fixture back in early December, losing 1-0 after Leon Bailey’s deflected strike in the second-half of the Premier League clash.

Manchester City extended their unbeaten streak with a goalless draw with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, but successive league draws against both the Gunners and Liverpool have seen the Sky Blues fall three points behind league leaders Liverpool in the race for the title.

The Blues, who could move level on points with Liverpool with a win in midweek, were without Ederson, Kyle Walker and John Stones for the draw with Arsenal, meanwhile Nathan Ake was forced off with an injury in the first-half.

Ederson, Walker and Nathan Ake are all now set to miss Wednesday night’s clash with Aston Villa, but John Stones could be in contention to feature for Manchester City, according to Pep Guardiola.

The Catalan manager suffered a series of injury issues during the most recent international break, causing major issues ahead of busy month of fixtures across three competitions for the treble-winners.

As well as confirming that both Ederson and Walker would miss the midweek Premier League fixture, Guardiola revealed that Ake “hopefully will be back soon” after Sunday’s muscular injury.

The manager also stated that fellow centre-back John Stones “has to feel fully fit” before returning from an abductor injury suffered during England’s 2-2 draw with Belgium at Wembley Stadium.

Goalkeeper Ederson has not featured for Manchester City since the 1-1 draw against Liverpool at Anfield last month, having sustained a thigh problem through a clash with Darwin Nunez to giveaway a second-half penalty.

Stefan Ortega has largely starred in the absence of the Brazilian international, with Pep Guardiola and Manchester City supporters alike holding the German’s goalkeeping capabilities in high regard.