Pep Guardiola Provides Encouraging Fitness Update on Manchester City Trio Ahead of Watford Clash

The Premier League leaders return to action less than 72 hours after seeing off Brighton with a supreme second-half display to reclaim top spot in the table after Liverpool’s 4-0 demolition of Manchester United in midweek.

In grave danger of going down with six league games left, Watford will be hoping to cause an upset in the east side of Manchester, with Roy Hodgson admitting his side cannot afford going toe to toe with the Blues and taking the risk of a hammering.

As for the hosts, who were knocked out of the FA Cup by Liverpool at the weekend, the focus remains on retaining the Premier League title and potentially going all the way in Europe ahead of a Champions League semi-final tie with Real Madrid.

John Stones came off for City against Brighton and needed ice to his hamstring before being replaced by Oleksandr Zinchenko, which had raised doubts over the England international’s availability against Watford.

Speaking to the press ahead of Saturday’s clash, Pep Guardiola stated that Stones is suffering from ‘niggles’ and that an assessment on the 27-year-old’s fitness will be made on Saturday, which will be also be the case for Nathan Ake, who was taken off for Ruben Dias at half-time against Brighton.

City have also missed Kyle Walker in their recent games against Liverpool and Brighton after the right-back suffered what appeared to be a potentially dangerous injury in the second-leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie with Atletico Madrid last week.