How Man City could line up vs Liverpool FC with only 14 fit outfield players
Matheus Nunes became the seventh Manchester City injury doubt ahead of next week's Premier League clash with Liverpool, continuing a nightmare start to the international break.
Nunes was curiously declared 'clinically unfit' by the Portuguese FA on Wednesday and won't feature in Portugal's two fixtures this week. Reports in the national media say he has a muscle injury that prevented him from training on Tuesday, prior to his withdrawal.
The midfielder follows Mateo Kovacic, Ederson and Nathan Ake in pulling out of the November international fixtures, joining the three players already on City's injury list before the break - Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Sergio Gomez.
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Pep Guardiola said he hoped Stones could be ready after the break but added that he wouldn't rush the defender's return, while Gomez may or may not be ready after a training injury. There was no timeframe put on Ake's problem, while City will wait to assess Ederson, Kovacic and Nunes when they return to Manchester.
If they are not available against Liverpool, that could leave City with just 14 fit outfield players - including youngster Oscar Bobb. Despite the Blues being thin on numbers, they would still have a strong enough squad to take on Liverpool, even with a few players moving around.
If Ederson isn't fit, City will have no issues throwing in Stefan Ortega in goal, and the defence could be similarly strong even without Stones and Ake. Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Manu Akanji and Josko Gvardiol is a back line that have played together before this season, including at Chelsea at the weekend,
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