Man City star Doku sidelined until new year

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Belgium winger Jeremy Doku remains sidelined with injury until the new year.

The player picked up a leg injury during the previous week, causing him to miss his team's comfortable 3-0 victory over Crystal Palace.

In the lead-up to the midweek League Cup quarter-final match against Brentford, Guardiola revealed that the key player Doku faces up to three weeks on the treatment table.

When questioned about his potential return date, the manager stated: "Jeremy (will be out) two or three weeks. New year at Sunderland maybe."

This injury setback hits Guardiola hard during what has been his steadiest campaign at City since his move from Rennes in France back in 2023.

The 23-year-old talent has notched up three goals along with five assists so far, and his energetic performances out wide have greatly supported forward Erling Haaland's goal-scoring exploits this season.

In addition to sitting out the home game versus Brentford at the Etihad Stadium, Doku will also skip Premier League fixtures with West Ham on December 20 and Nottingham Forest on December 27.

His first possible appearance comes in the away game against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on January 1.

Brazilian winger Savinho appears set to step in for Doku after finding himself out of favour in the last few matches.

He entered as a substitute against Palace and earned a penalty, though Guardiola praised his defensive efforts more highly.

"He lost one or two balls and in two seconds he was a full-back," Guardiola remarked.

"I was incredibly pleased. Two actions where he lost the ball he was a machine. He doesn't like to listen, but I had to tell him.

"You come from the bench, you have to run double because the other guys are tired. Savinho is going to play a lot of minutes."

With only two points separating them from table-toppers Arsenal in a tight Premier League title contest, runners-up City must avoid further casualties during the busy festive schedule.

Guardiola plans to rotate his squad for the Brentford encounter, scheduled just 72 hours following the tough triumph at Palace.

"We have some injuries, like John (Stones) and Jeremy. We will see. It's one step to get to the semi-finals," he explained.

"Now we have less recovery. The players that didn't play recently are going to play.

"Some from the academy will play, because then we play West Ham. I'm not saying it's not a priority getting to the League Cup semi-finals, but normally when we achieve it it's when we have no injuries and we can rotate the team."