LONDON — Manchester City will be without Rodri again for Sunday’s Premier League game at fourth-placed Crystal Palace as their Ballon d’Or winner continues to recover from a hamstring injury that has sidelined him since October.
City could use the 29-year-old Spain midfielder in their title chase as they have narrowed the gap with Arsenal and sit two points behind the leaders in second place after 15 games.
“Rodri is training really well,” City assistant manager Kolo Toure said according to Reuters.
“He looks sharper and sharper every day we see him but, for sure, I don’t think we’re going to see him for the weekend but he is going through the process.”
Toure was filling in for City boss Pep Guardiola, who missed the pre-game press conference due to what the club called a “personal matter” that will not affect Sunday’s game.
“Yeah Pep is fine. It’s a small matter that didn’t bring him here but everything is fine,” Toure said. “He will be back (on Sunday) for sure.”
While defender John Stones was absent from the 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday and missed last week’s 3-0 Premier League victory over Sunderland, Toure said squad selection will be finalised after Saturday’s training.
Toure also confirmed that Sunday will be the final game in which Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri are available before they leave to join Egypt and Algeria respectively for the Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks off on December 21.
While Toure was asked whether Arsenal might be feeling the pressure of having City hot on their heels, the former Premier League defender said his side “just focus on what we can do.
“We know the quality of Arsenal, they have a really strong squad and a fantastic manager but it’s all down to us,” he said.
“We have the best manager in the world who is doing an incredible job every day, his passion for the game, he loves the players, he loves his staff. We know he will take us as far as we can to win that league, for us we focus on what we can do.
“We aren’t focusing on what Arsenal are doing. Every game is like a final for us.”
Arsenal hosts bottom side Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday. Palace has 26 points, five behind City.
