The latest on Ruben Dias, Kalvin Phillips and Raheem Sterling ahead of Manchester City vs Chelsea (Emirates FA Cup third round)

Manchester City take on Chelsea for the third time this season, and the second time in a single week, this time in the third round of the Emirates FA Cup.

Graham Potter’s under-performing squad will be keen for progression in the latest edition of the cup, especially after their recent defeat to Manchester City and their early exit to the same opposition in the Carabao Cup third round.

The FA Cup presents Chelsea with their best opportunity at silverware this season, while for City, they continue to fight strongly on all four fronts, with a quarter-final tie against Southampton on the agenda after Sunday’s clash.

For Pep Guardiola, the Catalan coach has very close to a full compliment of players available for selection this weekend, while his managerial counterpart at Stamford Bridge is already stripped of 10 potential starters before the clash at the Etihad.

Ahead of Sunday afternoon’s FA Cup third round tie, here is all the latest team news and fitness updates from both camps.

Manchester City

The Premier League champions were handed a significant personnel boost following the win over Chelsea, with Aymeric Laporte rejoining the first-team squad for full training ahead of the FA Cup clash this weekend.

Ruben Dias remains ruled out and could return towards the back end of January, as he continues to work back towards full fitness after sustaining a muscular injury during the closing stages of the World Cup in Qatar.

Pep Guardiola has also revealed that Kalvin Phillips is ready to return to City’s starting elevens in the coming two cup matches, after taking his fitness levels back to their usual high standards.

Speaking ahead of this weekend, Guardiola said, “For sure, in the Carabao Cup (Phillips) is going to play and on Sunday we’ll see. I had the feeling last week that he’s back. I have a good feeling.”

Chelsea

Graham Potter’s already-depleted Chelsea side were further weakened in midweek against Manchester City, as two of his three forwards that started the game failed to make it to the half-hour mark due to injury.

Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic‘s respective injuries against City now takes Chelsea’s injury list into double figures, and gives their manager major selection headaches before kick-off on Sunday.

All of the following players are now expected to be unavailable for Chelsea’s trip north to face Manchester City this weekend:

• Armando Broja
• Ben Chilwell
• Wesley Fofana
• Reece James
• N’Golo Kante
• Ruben Loftus-Cheek
• Edouard Mendy
• Raheem Sterling
• Christian Pulisic

There remains a possibility that Mason Mount could recover from a training ground knock, but whether the England international is risked after missing the previous clash with Manchester City entirely is a different question.