Early Season Injuries Hampering Pep Guardiola's City

It's fair to say Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have not enjoyed the most ideal start to the season. The loss of key defender Aymeric Laporte to injury was compounded last weekend with a shock 3-2 defeat away at newly promoted Norwich City. That result has left City five points behind title rivals Liverpool already with just five games played and whilst Pep isn't known to be one for pushing the panic button, especially this early on in a season, he is already up against it in what is probably his most important season at City to date.

Since Guardiola arrived at the Etihad in the summer of 2016, City have gone on to win the FA Cup once and the Community Shield, League Cup and Premier League all twice. That record of seven major trophies in a little over three seasons is all the more impressive when you consider that during his first season at the club, City finished without a single piece of silverware.

Last year was his and City's most successful season to date at domestic level as they managed a clean sweep of the Community Shield, League Cup, FA Cup and after been pushed literally all the way to the final day of the season by Liverpool, the Premier League.

There was disappointment once again in Europe as City were knocked out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by Tottenham. That saw City endure another season without European success, something that this season must surely be the aim, given the owners and fans expectations.

City players watch helplessly as Fernando Llorente scores to send Spurs through in the Champions League

Pep himself has won the Champions League twice as a manager, both times with Barcelona and the City owners brought him to the club with the aim of replicating that success but heading into his fourth season in charge, the dream has yet to become a reality.

This season started well enough, City claiming the Community Shield for the second year running with a shoot-out win over Liverpool. They then kicked off their league season with an opening day demolition away at West Ham, beating the Hammers 5-0.

A 2-2 draw at home to Spurs followed, on the face of it, a somewhat credible result, but dig a little deeper and it could definitely be seen as disappointing. City had thirty shots on goal during the game compared to Tottenham's three.

Convincing back-to-back wins over Bournemouth and Brighton respectively got City back on track but it was during the Brighton game that Aymeric Laporte sustained a knee injury that looks likely to rule him out until the new year.

Aymeric Laporte is expected to be out until the new year

The defender has been a key player at the back for City since he arrived at the club and was a vital member of the first team last season. In the 35 league games he was involved in during the 2018/19 season, City kept a clean sheet in 18 of them (51.4%).

Not only did he make more appearances in the league last year than both John Stones (24) and Nicolas Otamendi (18), but he comes out on top when comparing his clean sheet to games played stats as well. City kept 9 clean sheets in the 24 games Stones was involved in (37.5%), whilst Otamendi seemed to be more solid with City keeping 9 clean sheets in the 18 games he played in (50%).

Stones returned to the starting eleven for the last match at Norwich, partnering Nicolas Otamendi at centre back but neither player looked convincing in the defeat. What turned out to be the decisive goal of the game came from a Stones pass along the area to Otamendi who took a lazy touch before having the ball nicked off him by Emiliano Buendia who squared it to Teemu Pukki who stabbed it into the back of the net.

That result leaves City already five points off a rampant Liverpool team who have carried on where they finished last season.

To make matters worse, Stones has now himself suffered an injury that is likely to keep him out for up to six weeks, leaving Otamendi as the club's only experienced, recognised centre back.

With club legend and former captain Vincent Kompany having left the club at the end of last season, City are struggling for options in that position as it stands.

Pep Guardiola is likely to call on Fernandinho to help solve the team's defensive problems

Midfielder Fernandinho looks the most likely to fill in alongside Otamendi having played there on a few occasions in the past when needed. Whilst not naturally a defender by trade, his game is based on been a defensive midfielder and having to sit and protect the defence, so a lot of the skills needed come naturally and he's proved more than capable of adapting.

The fact is there isn't really another option player wise without turning to the younger inexperienced players.

City's next three games may provide a little chance to experiment. The first of those is a trip to the Ukraine to play their opening group game of the Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk. A home league game against Watford at the weekend follows before a midweek trip to Preston in the Carabao Cup.

Whatever happens over the next week, it won't change the targets of the owners and fans for this season. City have by far been the most successful club and attractive team to watch over the past couple of years under Pep, but only at domestic level. With the money that has been ploughed into the club over the years and with the Pep project now into it's fourth season, the Champions League HAS to be priority if City are to classed as a top European club. Naturally this could come at a cost with the likes of the Carabao Cup and FA Cup taking more of a backseat. But can the Guardiola legacy at City be classed as that much more of a success compared to other recent managers if like those before him, the Champions League eludes him?

With talent like Raheem Sterling, playing the best attacking football of his career, Kevin De Bruyne improving season after season and Sergio Aguero continuing to be at his lethal best, now could be the best chance City have had to claim the trophy the fans at the Etihad have craved.