City look to the likes of de Bruyne for goals

LONDON • Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne will not be rested in the coming weeks as he is crucial to the club's hopes, with goals hard to come by this season, manager Pep Guardiola said yesterday.

City are ninth in the Premier League on 20 points, eight behind leaders Liverpool, and have four games over the next 10 days, including a League Cup quarter-final at Arsenal.

De Bruyne has played 90 minutes in each of City's last seven league matches and also played twice for Belgium last month.

But when asked if the 29-year-old would be rested for today's Premier League trip to Southampton, Guardiola told reporters: "No, right now, no. He's too important for us. He's not going to rest.

"He rested in the Champions League, he rested in other games in the previous weeks... Right now, we need him."

With City's main strikers either unfit or in a rut, Guardiola is relying heavily on his midfielders and wingers for goals.

Argentina international Sergio Aguero has yet to open his account in the league as injuries have limited his playing time and the Catalan revealed he was unsure whether to risk him at St Mary's after he missed two day's of training earlier this week.

On the fitness of City's record scorer, who has just three top-flight appearances this term, Guardiola said: "I don't know. After the game he could not train, yesterday no training, today, he trained.

"He trained really well but I don't know how many minutes (he will play against Southampton)."

With Brazil forward Gabriel Jesus netting just twice in the league this term, Guardiola urged his players to help create more chances.

To emphasise his point, he compared the number of goals they have scored with how many they had at this stage of their previous title-winning seasons.

"The reality is comparing the 40 goals we scored in the first 12 fixtures in the year when we won our first Premier League (in 2018), 36 for our second title (in 2019) and last season, we had scored 35 by this stage. This year we have 18," he added. "Last season, we scored more goals than the champions (Liverpool) but unfortunately, we conceded too much. We have to score more, everybody knows that, but it doesn't depend on one specific player. It is not just the responsibility of the strikers... Everybody is involved to create more clear chances."

Other than Aguero, City have no further injury concerns.

REUTERS

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