John Stones has struggled with fitness issues this season (Photo: Getty)
Pep Guardiola has revealed that John Stones is ‘not injured’ despite the Manchester City star missed Saturday’s 5-1 win over Luton Town.
City will spend at least overnight at the top of the Premier League thanks to an own goal from Daiki Hashioka and strikes from Mateo Kovacic, Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol.
Ross Barkley got a consolation for the Hatters in the middle of that but it was a very comfortable win at the Etihad for the home side.
The win means they’ll remain at the front of the title race providing Arsenal and Liverpool don’t beat Aston Villa and Crystal Palace respectively on Sunday.
There was some worry when the line-ups were announced however, with Stones absent from the matchday squad.
There were concerns over his fitness going into the game after it was said that he was playing through the pain barrier in the 3-3 draw at Real Madrid last week, but after not even making it onto the bench there were fears the centre-back had sustained another injury.
Guardiola insists that is not the case, though admitted the England international was not in the best condition.
Man City thrashed Luton 5-1 to move to the top of the Premier League (Photo: Getty)
‘[Stones] has some niggles, he is fine. He is not injured,’ the manager said in his post-match press conference.
‘But he didn’t feel comfortable and we didn’t want to take some risk.’
This is great news for the Citizens, not only for their title aspirations but also with the second-leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Real on Wednesday night.
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Guardiola was also able to welcome back defenders Nathan Ake and Kyle Walker to his squad against Luton, as well as bench key midfielder Rodri after he publicly stated he needed a ‘rest’.
The City boss seemed apathetic toward his star player’s concerns, jokingly adding: ‘Absolutely [Rodri was happy to rest]! He going to rest on Wednesday as well! Do you believe me?
‘Nathan and Kyle want to be on the bench. Okay, go on the bench.’
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