Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Manchester City will be without two key midfielders for Saturday’s Premier League clash at Newcastle United: Rodri and Mateo Kovacic.

Rodri continues to recover from a thigh injury sustained in September that also kept him out of Spain’s recent international fixtures, while Kovacic picked up an ankle problem during the break.

Speaking ahead of the game, Guardiola said:
“Everybody is fit except Kova and Rodri. Rodri is making good steps. He knows we have to take real time to recover mentally and physically and to be consistent from now until the end.”

City travel to St James’ Park on a four-game winning run across all competitions, including a convincing 3-0 victory over Liverpool before the break. That result moved them into second place, four points behind leaders Arsenal. A win on Tyneside would cut the gap to just one point before Arsenal face Tottenham on Sunday.

Despite the absences, City remain strong favourites against a Newcastle side that has lost its last two league games and sits 12th in the table. Kick-off is 12:30pm GMT.