Matheus Nunes was one of nine Manchester City players to miss the Manchester derby for the Premier League game at Old Trafford
Matheus Nunes played at Newcastle(Image: )
Matheus Nunes added to Manchester City’s issues after being ruled out of the Premier League game with Manchester United. Rico Lewis starts at right-back at Old Trafford with Pep Guardiola forced to shuffle his team.
Nunes had started all of the last 16 Premier League games before Saturday, with Arsenal away in September the last time he came off the bench in the competition. He was also in the XI in midweek in the Carabao Cup win at Newcastle, playing over an hour before being taken off.
He has established himself as City’s premier right-back, with Guardiola saying this season that the former Wolves man could go on to be one of the best in the position. However, Lewis will get another chance to come in alongside Abdukodir Khusanov, Max Alleyne and Nathan Ake in defence.
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Guardiola said that Nunes was missing with the flu after ‘feeling bad’ on Friday as City prepared for the game. He may be asked again about the player after the match, or on Monday when City are in Norway for the Champions League.
Nico Gonzalez also misses out after failing to recover from the knock that he picked up against Brighton earlier in the month. He missed the trip to Newcastle and is now a doubt for the Champions League trip to Bodo Glimt, with Rodri starting at United in his absence.
Gonzalez and Nunes are among nine players unavailable to City for the derby. Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Savinho, Oscar Bobb and John Stones are all injured, while Omar Marmoush is still with Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations.
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