Manchester City will once again be without head coach Pep Guardiola on the touchline at Molineux on Saturday afternoon, it has been confirmed.
The City boss has already missed two matches this season after he underwent surgery in Barcelona on a back problem, leaving duties on the training ground and on the touchline to his trusted assistant Juanma Lillo.
During that team, Manchester City defeated both Sheffield United at Bramall Lane thanks to a later Rodrigo winning goal, as well as Fulham in a more dominant victory at the Etihad Stadium.
Juanma Lillo is now likely to be the man in charge of proceedings once again on the touchline this weekend, after it has now been confirmed that Pep Guardiola has picked up a one-match ban following the midweek clash at St. James’ Park.
As confirmed by Jacqui Oatley, Pep Guardiola will serve a touchline ban at Molineux on Saturday afternoon after being shown a third yellow card of the season in the Carabao Cup defeat at Newcastle United on Wednesday night.
Oatley further details that while the threshold for a touchline ban was four yellow cards last season, it had been reduced to three this season in an attempt to reduce dissent from technical areas.
As such, Pep Guardiola is expected to watch the match between Wolves and Manchester City from the directors’ box at Molineux. However, as per Mike Minay, Guardiola will be allowed in the dressing room pre and post match, and will also be able to conduct post-match interviews.
Manchester City will be looking to make it seven wins from their opening seven Premier League games on Saturday afternoon, as they take on a Wolves side in troublesome form under new manager Gary O’Neil.
Matheus Nunes is making his first return to Molineux after the Portugal international went on strike during the closing stages of the summer transfer window, in order to force through a move to Manchester City.
Kick-off between Wolves and Manchester City at Molineux is scheduled for 3PM (BST).
Manchester City Starting XI: Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Ake; Kovacic, Nunes, Alvarez; Foden, Haaland, Doku.
Manchester City Substitutes: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Phillips, Grealish, Gomez, Gvardiol, Bobb, Lewis.
Leave a Reply