City options won’t be Pepped up this month

MANCHESTER City will not be bolstering their attacking options this month, with Pep Guardiola saying there will be no new arrivals before the summer.

Despite a lack of striking cover, City have overcome a slow start to hit their stride and can go top of the Premier League by beating Aston Villa tonight.

They will again be without Sergio Aguero, who has missed big chunks of the season, although Gabriel Jesus is fit.

The Brazilian has also had spells out this term, exposing a lack of options which has seen Guardiola deploying winger Ferran Torres as a makeshift striker and Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling utilised as ‘false nines’. Liam Delap, 17, has also had a taste of the first team.

Aguero has missed City’s last three games after being told to quarantine as a

We can rely on the talents that we have in various positions

close contact of someone who has tested positive for Covid-19. Guardiola said yesterday he is ‘still isolated’.

‘We need him, we miss him,’ said the City boss of his striker, who has also had knee and hamstring issues this season.

But Guardiola (below) insisted: ‘We will not sign any deal during the winter transfer market. We will end the season with the players that we have now.’

The coach is convinced there is enough quality and versatility in the squad to cope – a claim backed up by five league wins in a row and a Carabao Cup semi-final victory. ‘This is one of our ways,’ he said. ‘There were matches where we needed an attacker but at that time two of them were injured.

‘One had been injured for a long time – Aguero. The other two had coronavirus. That’s why we sometimes play in this way, other times we are forced to do it because of a pressing need. It’s an alternative plan, which we can rely on given the talents we have in various positions.’