John Stones: Medical expert issues ’emergency’ claim after Man City injury update
John Stones will only make the squad against Real Madrid tonight (26 April) if Man City find themselves in an emergency situation.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
Stones, 27, did not feature in City’s 5-1 win over Watford last Saturday (23 April) and has not trained in over a week.
As quoted by club media yesterday (25 April), Pep Guardiola claimed that the centre-back is a “doubt” for the Champions League semi-final first leg.
City could also be without fellow defender Kyle Walker but otherwise have a clean bill of health for the clash at the Etihad.
And Dinnery claims that it is overwhelmingly unlikely that Stones will not be called on to play a role in the matchday squad.
“If you can’t do a full training session, the likelihood is that you won’t be involved in the matchday squad,” he told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“If Pep was massively, massively pushed, you could maybe feature on the bench in an emergency.
“It’s muscular. He just complained of a little bit of discomfort. That is always a worry, so you wouldn’t want to risk him.“
Stones has scored twice in 25 appearances this season, with seven of those outings coming in the Champions League campaign.
City are in the hunt for domestic as well as European silverware and currently lead the Premier League by one point with five games to go.
In other news, Raheem Sterling tipped to quit Man City for new club after source’s talks reveal.