Pep Guardiola has insisted Jack Grealish will not be fit for Manchester City’s trip to Brighton on Saturday despite the midfielder receiving an England call-up this week.
Grealish has played only once since starting City’s 3-2 win over Fulham over a month ago, appearing as a substitute in the 2-1 victory at Wolves on October 20.
Guardiola had previously said the 29-year-old had been ruled out until after the international break, yet on Thursday England interim manager Lee Carsley risked another club versus country row by naming Grealish in his squad for the Nations League matches against Greece and the Republic of Ireland.
When asked for his thoughts on Carsley’s decision to include Grealish, Guardiola gave a curt response.
“A question for the manager from (England),” the City boss said.
And asked if Grealish would be fit for the trip to Brighton on Saturday, he simply added: “No”.
Guardiola arrived half an hour late for his press conference, and gave short, terse answers throughout.
Grealish is one of several City players still sidelined in a worrying run of injuries which has contributed to Guardiola’s side losing three in a row, and the City boss said he would go to Brighton with the same squad that travelled to Lisbon in midweek for what ended in a 4-1 defeat to Sporting.
Guardiola has never lost four in a row during his managerial career, but that could change unless City show a response on the south coast.
“(It would be) the first time in our lives, hopefully that is not the case,” Guardiola said. “But you tell me that 20 minutes against Fulham wasn’t good, against Bournemouth (a 2-1 defeat) we were not good, but then the rest of the games were good. We are good. We’ll see what happens.”
Tuesday’s humbling in Portugal came on the back of the Premier League loss at Bournemouth and a Carabao Cup defeat away to Tottenham.
Following the Champions League loss, Bernardo Silva said City were “in a dark place” but asked if he had needed to reassure his players and give them confidence, Guardiola said no.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “We are not used to three different games in three different competitions, but it’s football, it’s happened. We know the reason why we struggle.
“We’re looking forward to the game, then international break. After that, a few players come back better, we recover. All the problems we have we will solve it.”
And asked if he had learned more about his players during this run, Guardiola again said not.
“I’ve known them for many years,” he said. “They prove many times what they’re capable of. They don’t change my opinion, sometimes it happens.”
Brighton will present another difficult challenge for a City side a long way from their best. Fabian Hurzeler’s side are eighth in the Premier League, having lost only two games this season.
“I’m really impressed for the way they play,” he said. “I think Roberto De Zerbi did an incredible job there. Brighton made a lot of signings this season, and (Hurzeler’s) doing an incredible job for the personality and the rhythm.
“They way they played their last two games against Liverpool, of course the results were not good, but they played really good and it has always been tough, since Graham Potter, away or at home, it doesn’t matter and tomorrow will be no exception.”