Savinho and Manuel Akanji injury worries as Man City concerns mount up

Pep Guardiola suffered more injury headaches on Wednesday night against Tottenham as Savinho was taken off and Manuel Akanji was struggling in the warm-up.

Spurs beat the Premier League champions 2-1 to progress to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup thanks to goals from Timo Werner and Pape Matar Sarr.

Akanji was due to start but was injured shortly before kick-off and Ruben Dias took his place in the starting XI.

On the Swiss defender, Guardiola told a post-match press conference: ‘Akanji yesterday, I didn’t know it, in the last action felt something miniscule in the muscular part of his body and today in the warm-up he didn’t feel good. He said he could take a risk but we said no.’

Savinho scored City’s goal but went down and was clearly in a lot of pain, seemingly in his ankle, before being substituted just after the hour mark.

Explaining the situation, Guardiola said: ‘He had a knock in the 18-yard box, potential penalty and we’ll see tomorrow what happens.

‘We have to see if it’s just a knock or something else. It was in the bone, hopefully it’s nothing dangerous but we’ll see tomorrow.’

Manchester City go to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday and Guardiola also confirmed that the trio of Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker will all still be out for that game.

Also sidelined are Rodri, Jeremy Doku and Oscar Bobb, with Guardiola’s options far more limited than normal.

‘It is what it is, it’s normal,’ he told Sky Sports. ‘So many years playing 11 months at the end the limit of the players is there. We have to understand it. 11 players will be in Bournemouth.’

Erling Haaland was on the bench in north London but was not called upon, despite City needing a goal.

‘The plan was not to play today,’ Guardiola said of the Norwegian. ‘We have not had much recovery and it was a waste of energy.’

Despite all the problems and the disappointing results, the Catalan was pleased with his team’s performance, saying: ‘Exceptional. The young players did well.

‘An incredible top side they are so fast and I am really pleased.

‘We play so good. If you play a game that quick they attack quicker, we played really good. Of course, in the second half there was transitions they could have finished the game – I know perfectly how good we played.

‘Football sometimes, we are in a difficult position with the amount of players.’