Pep Guardiola hopeful John Stones will return for Manchester City soon

Manchester City will again be without John Stones and Bernardo Silva for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Wolves, although Pep Guardiola has said the former is “much better”.

England defender Stones has not played since City’s Community Shield clash with Arsenal on August 6 due to a thigh issue.

The treble winners also have Silva sidelined after he came off against Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League last week having sustained what Guardiola described as a “little injury”, while Kevin De Bruyne is recovering from hamstring surgery.

Boss Guardiola told a press conference on Friday: “We have training this afternoon.

“I think John is still not ready. Kevin is still not ready. Bernardo Silva also is not OK. I think the rest are fine.

“He (Stones) is better, much better. I spoke with him, he feels really good. He is training alone, but maybe next week, or after RB Leipzig (next Wednesday) he will restart.”

City, who lead the Premier League table with maximum points from six outings, also have Rodri out at the moment – the midfielder serves the second game of his three-match ban after being sent off in last Saturday’s 2-0 league win over Nottingham Forest.

Guardiola brought on Kalvin Phillips after Rodri’s dismissal, and he then came into the starting line-up for the 1-0 Carabao Cup loss at Newcastle four days later. Other available midfield options are summer signings Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes, who City bought from Wolves last month.

Guardiola said: “Just for the amount he (Rodri) has played, the consistency – of course, it is not easy to replace.

“But he’s out, we’re are going to find another quality, skills that Rodri maybe hasn’t. We are going to use it for the benefit of the team.

“(Phillips) has a chance (of being selected) like the other ones. He’s part of the group, he made incredible contributions playing not regularly. I don’t have any complaints about that.

“Sometimes we are looking for something specific for some positions. When the game is a little bit (moves hands about and scrunches up face) Kalvin is the perfect one. When the game has to be everything in the details, maybe he struggles a little bit more. The game against Newcastle was a tough game, he helped us a lot to win against Nottingham Forest. He has specific qualities, and in some moments we will need him.”

In the last couple of games, Jack Grealish has returned after injury, coming off the bench against Forest, then starting the Newcastle cup tie.

Guardiola was asked about competition in attack between Grealish and Jeremy Doku, another of City’s summer signings, being a talking point, and said: “Jeremy can play on the right as well. So who is going to play more, who is going to perform better?

“Phil Foden can play on the left too. So they compete with Phil Foden as well.

“The guy who performs well and feels better than the other one is going to have more chances to play. Always it has been like that.”

When it was put to Guardiola that that people may regard Wolves – who are 16th with four points – as an easy fixture for City, he said: “Normally all the games we play are ‘easy’ – and if we don’t win the Premier League, 10 points in front, in November, it’s a disaster! I know exactly what it is.

“(Wolves boss Gary) O’Neil did an incredible job at Bournemouth and I have the feeling they will do it too. It is a team where the quality is there. Hopefully we can respond with these next three games before before the international break.”