Pep Guardiola has hailed Manchester City as Premier League legends after sealing their fourth title in five years.
13.05.2022 - 16:27 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Fernandinho and Aymeric Laporte will be given until Sunday to prove their fitness for the Premier League title crunch at West Ham on Sunday. The pair were both forced off through injury at Wolves on Wednesday night, leaving the Blues with a makeshift centre-back pairing of Nathan Ake and Rodri.
And if the two injury doubts do not make it after three days of intensive treatment, that is a likely starting duo at the London Stadium. Guardiola confirmed that neither Laporte nor Fernandinho has trained for the last two days but did not rule them out of being fit for the Hammers clash, when a win would put the Blues on the brink of clinching the title.
Laporte suffered a nasty-looking knee injury in a collision with Wolves striker Raul Jimenez at Molineux on Wednesday night and after trying to battle on was forced to limp off. That saw Ake - who has also been struggling with an ankle problem - step in to partner Fernandinho.
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But the Brazil international was himself forced off with what seemed to be a hamstring issue, and the Blues ended the game with Rodri and Ake as their central defensive pairing.
With Ruben Dias, John Stones and Kyle Walker already ruled out for the rest of the season, it leaves the manager with a problem. Asked about the pair, Guardiola said: "They are in treatment, two days.
"We will see tomorrow, which players can play on Sunday. Until the day of the game we will not be able to decide."
Having one centre back - and that one not fully fit - for such a big game is far from ideal but Guardiola says it is lessened by the fact that it has happened so late in the season.
"I said many times we have to handle these absences," he said. "If it was many months a big
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