Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has explained why defender, Aymeric Laporte missed Sunday’s fourth-round FA Cup tie win over Fulham at the Etihad.
The French defender who recently returned to action after a lengthy layoff with a knee injury missed the match against the Cottagers ad City picked a comfortable 4-0 win to progress to the fifth round and remain in contention for their title defense.
Laporte, who had been out of action for five months returned to action in midweek against Sheffield United where he featured for 75 minutes in the 1-0 win over a stubborn United side.
Speaking after the match against the Championship side, the Spanish tactician explained that the forward was left out of the match against Fulham due to fatigue after playing in the gruesome match against Sheffield.
“He has some fatigue, its normal after four or five months and we didn’t want to take a risk. Right now I don’t know when he’ll be able to play, we are going to see because it was such a demanding game at Sheffield United after five months out and not many training sessions,” he said.
On whether the player will feature on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup semifinal match against arch-rivals Manchester United, Pep was coy stating that the team doctors will determine as to whether he will get involved.
“He played 75 minutes but we will see, we spoke with him and the doctors and if he is not ready he is not going to play,” he added.
City holds a 3-1 advantage heading into the return leg against the Red Devils.