Man City injury woe leaves transfer gamble in the balance

Manchester City continue to suffer with injuries ahead of their Premier League clash with Southampton.

The Blues will be without six first team stars for the contest at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon with Pep Guardiola confirming none of those who missed the Champions League canter against Sparta Prague will be fit to feature. it leaves City with a thin squad ahead of a busy period of five games between now and the November international break.

And the growing injury list has raised the question of City's summer business and whether the Blues took too much of a gamble in not adding further depth to their squad. Here's the latest Etihad headlines.

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Injury woe

Pep Guardiola is not expecting any Manchester City players to return from injury against Southampton and is in the dark about Kevin De Bruyne's problem.

De Bruyne has not played since being taken off in the Champions League game against Inter Milan in September with a thigh issue. While he returned to training last week, Guardiola has said the player still needs to feel 100 per cent fit and as of Friday the manager has no clue when that will be.

It means City will be without six players for the home game against Southampton. On top of De Bruyne, they are missing Rodri, Oscar Bobb, Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku and Kyle Walker.

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Transfer gamble

Pep Guardiola, supported by Txiki Begiristain, prefers to operate with a small, manageable squad at Manchester City. It's a policy that has delivered plenty of success but is not without risk.

However much certain critics and pundits try to insist that the Blues have endless resources, anyone who has paid any shred of attention to the Etihad in the last few years will know that City's success lies on fewer versatile players rather than a host of specialists in each position.

Suddenly, City have emerged from the international break with six key players injured for the foreseeable future, leaving them with just 15 fit outfield options. The transfer strategy would always be stretched if certain players got injured, but the current situation is surely among the extremes of any worst-case scenarios mitigated for.

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