Our reporter Michael Plant gives the latest from Pep Guardiola's pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester City's FA Cup clash against Huddersfield Town.
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00:00 I'm at Manchester City's media centre where this afternoon Pep Guardiola held his pre-match
00:04 press conference against the FA Cup third round clash against Huddersfield Town on Sunday.
00:09 It was actually quite a detailed fitness and availability update from Pep Guardiola who
00:14 had updates on nine different players from the squad. He revealed that there has actually
00:18 been a bit of an illness bug that has swept through the squad in the last couple of days
00:22 with four players doubts for the Huddersfield match. Scott Carson, Bernardo Silva, Calvin
00:27 Phillips and Matheus Nunes all coming down with the illness so we'll have to find out
00:31 on Sunday if they're going to be involved. He also gave a sad bit of news on Rodri who
00:36 revealed his grandmother has passed away this week and it's unclear whether he'll be available
00:40 for Sunday's game. Pep Guardiola saying that family is the most important thing and said
00:43 he'd be given all the time that he needs after that very sad news. And then there was an
00:48 injury update on the four players who weren't involved against Sheffield United. John Stones
00:54 revealed he's not back in training so he's not going to be involved. You suspect certainly
00:58 this weekend but perhaps next week against Newcastle as well. He also gave an update
01:03 on Kevin De Bruyne who was back in the squad against Sheffield United but didn't play any
01:07 part. He said that he's going to have to be careful monitoring his minutes when he comes
01:11 back. Obviously a long term injury, been out for the guts of five months now with that
01:14 hamstring problem. So we're not, well I think he'll play some part against Huddersfield
01:18 at the weekend but I'd be certainly surprised to see him play the full 90 minutes gathering
01:22 on what Pep Guardiola said today. And then finally a little bit of an update on Jeremy
01:26 Doku and Erling Haaland. Both players who have missed the vast majority of December
01:30 through injuries. Guardiola said that they could be available against Huddersfield, perhaps
01:35 against Newcastle as well. But certainly going forward in the second half of January they're
01:39 going to be back which is a big boost for Guardiola and his attacking options. He was
01:44 also asked about in January of course the transfer market and what the latest is with
01:47 his squad. And he basically said that he's expecting to end this window with the squad
01:51 more or less that he started the season with. But he was asked whether Calvin Phillips a
01:55 player we are expecting to move on loan during the window. He said there's no real news on
02:01 the player and we'll have to wait on that one as well. But we're expecting him to move
02:06 on in this window. But as I say, Sunday game against Huddersfield Town, an opportunity
02:13 perhaps to rest and rotate a couple of players. January's a pretty light month in terms of
02:17 fixtures. Only three fixtures on the calendar at the moment. Guardiola said he's going to
02:21 use that time in the training ground to implement a few ideas. Teams can always look to improve
02:25 and of course even as world champions there's plenty that Pep Guardiola will try and improve
02:30 with his Manchester City squad.