JOAO JUST WOW
BRUCE VOWS TOON LOANEES WILL GET CHANCE TO SHINE
PEP GUARDIOLA has refused to give John Stones guarantees over his Manchester City future.
Stones (right) has fallen down the central-defensive pecking order at City and is now behind Aymeric Laporte, Fernandinho, Nicolas Otamendi and Eric Garcia.
Injuries have made this a season to forget for Stones, who has made just 10 Premier League starts and not featured at all since football resumed last month.
The 26-year-old, who joined City from Everton for £50million in 2016 and has two years left on his contract, has been linked with a return to his old club this summer.
With City poised to sign a centre-half to partner Laporte, Stones is likely to be off-loaded to make way for the new arrival. “After two or three training sessions he was injured and didn’t train until last week,” said Guardiola, who confirmed Stones will play tonight against Newcastle at the Etihad.
“Of course, what we want is for him to come back and play and to be able to play two, three or four months with no injuries. We’ll speak at the end of the season. If we have to change players, we’ll tell them. He’s a young player and we want him to be consistent.
“There are players who can play every three days, but others who struggle to be fit – we have to try to find the key to him playing every three days.”
Guardiola has warned City they must rediscover their killer instinct if they want to win the Champions League and FA Cup.
City slumped to a ninth Premier
STEVE BRUCE has promised Newcastle’s three loanees that they will be given every chance to secure Toon futures, starting at Manchester City tonight.
Danny Rose (left) has stayed on the bench for the Magpies’ last two games, Nabil Bentaleb
League defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss at Southampton.
Guardiola (above) fears City will go out to Real Madrid in the Champions League and Arsenal in the FA Cup semifinals unless they are more ruthless. “We’re at the point where we sometimes make mistakes in games,” he said,
“In some cases, with the lack of scoring, the other teams punish us. The games against Madrid and Arsenal are the reality for our team.
“If it happens like it did at Southampton and in other games, like Tottenham home and away, and Norwich away, we’ll be out. This is the reality we have to accept.” has started just once since lockdown, while Valentino Lazaro hasn’t been in the starting line-up since February.
But all are likely to be involved against City.
“Danny played three or four on the spin and, physically, that took its toll on him, but he’ll play
Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy, Foden, Rodri, De Bruyne, Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling Dubravka, Krafth, Schar, Fernandez, Rose, Lazaro, Bentaleb, M Longstaff, Shelvey, Ritchie, Gayle
Andy Madley against City,” said Toon boss Bruce. “They have all been hampered by the shutdown, so we haven’t seen a lot of them, but they’ve all added something to us in terms of competition.
“We will see how their performances are over the next five games. Bentaleb looks in far 6pm, BT Sport better condition than he did when he arrived and he’s been excellent when he’s played.
“Lazaro took time to get up to speed, but he looks as if he is where he should be.”
Bruce may also recall Matty Longstaff, saying: “He wants to play football and he’s ready.”
SHEFFIELD UNITED’S Sander Berge is becoming the new face of Norway in the Premier League.
Bournemouth’s Josh King is the current torchbearer, following the likes of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Tore Andre Flo, Ronny Johnsen and John Arne Riise.
But King faces relegation with the Cherries and interest in Berge in Norway has surged since his clubrecord £22million switch from Genk in January. “It’s been massive,” said the midfielder (above), who bagged his first Blades goal in Thursday’s win over Tottenham and is preparing for tonight’s visit of Wolves.
“The Premier League is huge in Norway. It feels like you’re playing for so many people, you’re representing your country. There are only four other players in the Premier League who are Norwegian and Josh King has been the face of Norway in the Premier League.
“When I played in Belgium, except when we played Liverpool in the Champions League, nobody in Norway really cared. The difference now is like day and night.”
Henderson, Basham, Egan, O’Connell, Baldock, Berge, Norwood, Osborn, Stevens, McGoldrick, McBurnie Patricio, Saiss, Coady, Boly, Neves, Moutinho, Jonny, Dendoncker, Doherty, Traore, Jimenez
Martin Atkinson 6pm, Sky Sports
WOLVES boss Nuno Espirito Santo has paid tribute to pocket rocket midfielder
Joao Moutinho.
The Portugal ace might be approaching 34 but he has clocked up more minutes than any other Premier League player this season.
Moutinho has played 50 games for Wolves this term ahead of tonight’s trip to Sheffield United, and Nuno said: “Joao just keeps going.
“He does this every single day because he loves to compete. He’s a top professional who loves passing things on to younger team-mates.”