Injury state-of-play: Up to six Manchester City stars could remain injured heading into Feyenoord and Liverpool showdowns | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola could yet be without up to five of his first-team squad for the meeting against Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League, and Liverpool at Anfield this week.

The injury and fitness problems remain at a crucial phase of Manchester City’s season, as Guardiola and the wider club coaching staff look to return the squad to winning ways after five successive defeats.

A Carabao Cup fourth round exit at the hands of Tottenham was followed up by a further victory for Ange Postecoglou’s side over the weekend, as the North London club put four goals past Ederson without a reply from Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

Those two victories have been separated by a further two losses in the Premier League, both via a 2-1 scoreline and both on the south coast of England thanks to Bournemouth and Brighton, whilst Sporting CP cruised to a 4-1 win in the UEFA Champions League.

However, the conclusion of the international break has led to Pep Guardiola and Manchester City’s medical staff being able to place more focus and attention on resolving the injury and fitness situation.

The likes of Jack Grealish, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake, and Kevin De Bruyne all returned to action during the defeat to Tottenham, whilst a further six names could miss out of the upcoming two matches depending on severity of problems and speed of recovery.

Two names that are guaranteed to miss out are Rodri and Oscar Bobb, with both players continuing to work on recovery and rehabilitation processes that may lead to returns at the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States and in February respectively.

Ruben Dias appeared to step up his own recovery during the international break as he maintained on-field training in Lisbon, but remains away from the Manchester City set-up and out of the most-recent matchday squad.

The same applies to Jeremy Doku, who took on some gym work at the City Football Academy over the break, with uncertainty over whether he has rejoined first-team training over the last few days.

Mateo Kovacic is the most recent star to sustain a more serious problem as the Croatia international was replaced at half-time of his country’s second UEFA Nations League fixtures, and has been ruled out by Pep Guardiola for between three weeks and a month.

John Stones could yet be added to that last after the England international lasted only 45 minutes against Tottenham at the weekend, before being withdrawn and replaced by Nathan Ake at the half-time interval.

Pep Guardiola is yet to provide a more substantial fitness update on the 30-year-old, but did state after the loss to Spurs, “John felt good, but after 45 minutes [against Tottenham] he had to leave.”