Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Mateo Kovacic, Jack Grealish and John Stones will all be missing on Saturday evening when they face West Ham at the London Olympic Stadium.
The Spanish coach confirmed the good news for West Ham when addressing the media on Friday lunchtime, little more than 24 hours before the two sides meet."Both [Grealish and tones] injured for tomorrow," he confirmed. "The injury for Jack is muscular but he had an incredible knock on his knee and the damage is there. John is better, but still has issues.
"Kovacic? Something also muscular. Not a big issue, but also out for tomorrow."
And Guardiola, who is back in the dugout following a brief break for medical purposes believes his team will need all their players available in order to cope with a hectic fixture schedule this season.
"First we have injury problems. We miss them, but it is what it is," he said. "The season starts right now after the first international break. The transfer window is over, kids back to school. The real season starts now, a lot of competitions. Go for it."
Meanwhile Hammers boss Julen Lopetegui has only one injury concern, that being reserve full back and vice captain Aaron Cresswell, who underwent a scan following the Carabao Cup win against Bournemouth.
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