Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola confirmed that they could be without talismanic Raheem Sterling, as the Citizens prepare themselves for Sunday's Carabao Cup final clash with Arsenal at Wembley Stadium.
Don't know if he will be ready
Sterling has come into his own under the watchful eye of Guardiola especially this season where he has been one of many stand out performers, with the Englishman the club's second top scorer having already racked up an impressive 20 goals.
It will be all hands on deck on Sunday as Guardiola looks to secure his first piece of silverware as City manager against The Gunners, Guardiola also confirmed that Claudio Bravo would be in between the sticks at the national stadium but that Sterling would be unlikely to feature.
"He has a muscular problem," Guardiola confirmed in his pre-match press conference. "He had it against Basel. I don't know if he will be ready for Sunday."
"He deserves to play in the final," he said on Bravo's inclusion. "Without him we would not be here. He's going to play."
We have to learn from our mistakes
City have been a dominating force that has swept across all competition thus far, but they head into this clash having just had their quadruple dreams dashed as they travelled to Wigan Athletic on Monday night in the fifth round of The FA Cup.
Tempers were certainly high at the DW Stadium only heightened further when Fabian Delph was sent off just before the break, amd their shock exit was secured close to the end as Will Grigg managed to secure the only goal for The Latics.
A treble is still very much on the cards for The Citizens as they head into the clash with their North London counterparts, and Guardiola stated his side can only "learn" from Monday's defeat and try to "get better" for Sunday's game.
"We have to win titles to give more value to what we have done," he admitted. "In the beginning of August, we said we will be judged by how many we win. It is the same for the five or six big contenders."
"I don't like to lose competitions," the Catalan stressed. "What happened at Wigan, maybe I'd prefer to lose Premier League games than FA Cup, because now we've dropped a competition."
"But that's football," the coach stated. "It has happened and we can just focus on the next one and try to get better."
Guardiola concluded: "All we can do is learn from Wigan."