Pep Guardiola provides major Manchester City fitness update and confirms John Stones injury blow

Pep Guardiola will be without John Stones for Sunday's Premier League clash with Manchester United.

Manchester City welcome their local rivals to the Etihad Stadium this weekend, with the Sky Blues looking to end United's four game winning streak and apply even more pressure to league leaders Arsenal.

Prior to the international break the Blues extended their unbeaten start to the season with a 3-0 win over Wolves, courtesy of goals from Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden.

Haaland is gearing up to feature in his first Manchester Derby this weekend, with the Norwegian coming into the clash having scored in seven successive matches for City.

Meanwhile, United haven’t played a Premier League fixture since September 4th, when they beat Arsenal 3-1 at Old Trafford.

Pep Guardiola faces yet another defensive headache coming into Sunday's clash, with John Stones suffering a hamstring injury in midweek.

The 28 year-old was substituted midway through the first-half during England's thrilling 3-3 draw with Germany on Monday.

Stones now faces yet another spell on the sidelines, with Guardiola suggesting the defender could be out for two weeks.

"He will be back when he's ready," said the Manchester City boss.

"It won't be 4-6 weeks, it might be less. I don't know when he will be back but two weeks, ten days hopefully."

The City centre-back now risks missing a handful of fixtures, with the Sky Blues travelling to Anfield later this month and due to play eight matches in October.

Guardiola has however been handed a welcome boost ahead of this weekend, with Aymeric Laporte back in contention to feature.

The Spain international, who is yet to make an appearance this season, has been out recovering from a knee injury suffered at the backend of the last campaign.

Speaking about the Frenchman’s fitness, Guardiola said: "He's training really well, trained alone when people were with the national teams."

Asked whether Laporte will feature on Sunday, Guardiola replied: "A long time injured, important is in training he moves well, ability with the pass is exceptional. Important to come back in this crazy schedule. For him as well.

"If we decide to play with Aymer [Laporte vs Manchester United], we do it. But we don't have to. We have Manu [Akanji], Ruben [Dias], Nathan [Ake]..."

Despite missing the Blues' win at Wolves, Kyle Walker featured for Gareth Southgate's England against both Italy and Germany and trained with the first-team on Thursday.

Nathan Ake, who has also struggled with injury in recent weeks, was also present at Thursday's training session.

🎥 Aymeric Laporte is training with the rest of the Manchester City squad, with the player expected back to full fitness in October

✅ Nathan Ake
✅ Kyle Walker
❌ John Stones pic.twitter.com/mP4Y30dLnc

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 29, 2022

Summer signing Kalvin Phillips is also ruled out of Sunday's clash against Manchester United.

The former Leeds midfielder underwent successful shoulder surgery earlier this month, and is now in a race to be fit for the World Cup in November.

After Sunday's showdown with Manchester United, the Blues welcome FC Copenhagen to the Etihad Stadium in the UEFA Champions League.