Pep Guardiola issues Manchester City fitness update ahead of tricky Villarreal test | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has provided an update on his side’s fitness ahead of their UEFA Champions League league phase clash with Villarreal on Tuesday evening.

The Blues are in a rich vein of form ahead of the clash in Spain, having put together a solid run of wins to climb to second place in the Premier League table after losing twice in their opening trio of 2025-26 Premier League games.

Erling Haaland has been the be-all and end-all of Manchester City’s source of goals lately and Guardiola has admitted to concerns within the camp of his side growing accustomed to pinning all their hopes of the capable Norwegian week-in, week-out.

Haaland scored a brace last time out in the UEFA Champions League as Manchester City were held to a frustrating 2-2 draw by AS Monaco in the French Riviera, with Eric Dier’s controversial injury-time penalty salvaging a point for the Ligue 1 side.

City are undergoing a period of transition on the pitch after a busy summer transfer window marked by a series of notable exits from the side that failed to live up to standards last season and recorded 71 points en route to a third-place Premier League finish.

Guardiola and his backroom staff have been dealing with some injuries in their early stages of the campaign, the most notable concern being that around Ballon d’Or winning midfielder Rodri, who was hauled off with a hamstring concern in the first-half of City’s 1-0 win over Brentford before the September international break.

Mateo Kovacic, Omar Marmoush and Rayan Cherki have all trained ahead of Tuesday’s clash in Spain, with Kovacic and Cherki making their returns to action after recovering from injury in the 2-0 triumph over Everton at the weekend.

Rayan Ait-Nouri has also made Manchester City’s 22-man travelling squad for the fixture, with the Algeria international in line to make his long-awaited return to action after recovering from a knee injury sustained against Tottenham in August.

Abdukodir Khusanov and Rodri were the only absentees from Manchester City’s open training session, with the latter still recovering from an issue he picked up in a 2-2 draw with Arsenal in September.

Speaking in a press conference on Monday afternoon, Guardiola confirmed that Rodri has travelled with the Manchester City squad to Spain but will remain unavailable against Villarreal.

One player who is likely to deputise in the majority of games City are without Rodri in is Nico Gonzalez, and Guardiola was keen to praise the fellow Spanish international for his development at the club.

“I have the feeling he’s getting better and better. It’s not easy sometimes arriving in a new club and playing a different style to maybe playing in the past,” said Guardiola.

“But we’re really pleased with his behaviour, and I’m pretty he’ll be better and better, month by month, year by year because he’s so coachable, open-minded, and a lovely, lovely guy – his mum and dad has to be so proud about how he is as a human being and as a player.

“And I have the feeling every game he’s better and better,” Guardiola added.