Pep Guardiola to overcome defensive woes ahead of Champions League fixture

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola would be relieved to have Nicolas Otamendi, John Stones and Kyle Walker back in training as they look to take on Atalanta in the Champions League.

Midfielder due of Fernandinho and Rodri were given the cleaning up duty in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Crystal Palace as the makeshift defensive partnership.

John Stones has been away for more than a month due to a thigh injury but is now likely to feature in the team sheet. Although, Aymeric Laporte is set to miss out until 2020 due to a bad knee

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Manchester City is currently at the top of Group C with two wins in two. A win against Atalanta would further solidify their chances of making it to the next round. 

Pep Guardiola might have assisted his side on being crowned as the champions of England on two consecutive occasions, but the Spaniard would now be eager to get a Champions League winners medal as the knockout stages haven’t been kind to his side in recent times.

Guardiola talks about room for improvement

“We are able to score goals because last season we scored a lot of goals,” he said.

“This season we are not incredibly strong in the box and that is why we have to improve.

“Tomorrow we have this chance. We need six more points to qualify and tomorrow is an incredible step forward. We will see how we are in February.”

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(Image Courtesy: Marca)