Manchester City Team News vs Aston Villa: Stones, Rodri, Zinchenko

Manchester City’s John Stones began the season as half of the team’s first choice pairing in central defense. However, a couple of injuries have kept him from getting back into the swing of things and he’s been limited to just three appearances since August.

With the other first choice center half, Aymeric Laporte, a long term injury (knee) absentee, City manager Pep Guardiola has been forced to play central midfielders at centre half.

Rodri, a central midfielder acquired this summer as cover for/eventual replacement of Fernandinho, suffered a hamstring injury Tuesday night and he had to be subbed off 40 minutes in.

Rodri suffered a hamstring injury that could be so severe, he might miss the Liverpool clash in the middle of next month. Right now, City is short-handed in the spine of the team, and it might get worse before it gets better.

Additionally, the club also announced prior to the mid-week clash that left back Oleksandr Zinchenko had suffered a knee injury and “will be assessed over the coming days to determine the extent of the problem.”

Heading into Saturday, when City hosts Aston Villas, Stones hopes to impress his manager with his play and re-establish his place in the first team.

“Obviously, it’s always frustrating going through injuries,” he told the Manchester Evening News. “To me, it was a big of a setback, now I’m back. I feel strong and healthy again. Hopefully I can stay fit and help to fight for every competition.

“They have done jobs for the team that they are not used to, so I give all the credit to them. Now, we [the centre-backs] are back, we need to try to stay fit and healthy to help the team to fight for all the competitions.”