With six players absent due to injury or illness, Guardiola named three Elite Development Squad (EDS) players on the bench for the 3-1 win over Chelsea.
Liam Delap and Taylor Harwood-Bellis were recalled for senior duty, whilst 17-year-old Luke Mbete was named in a matchday squad for the first time.
CITY+ | SIGN UP TO WATCH EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
Eric Garcia, Gabriel Jesus and Kyle Walker are all currently self-isolating due to Coronavirus, whilst Nathan Ake was short of match fitness for the trip to Stamford Bridge and Aymeric Laporte ruled out with a minor hamstring injury.
City are back in action with a Carabao Cup semi-final against Manchester United on Wednesday evening, followed by an FA Cup clash with Birmingham City next weekend.
With so many absentees, Guardiola admits it is difficult managing the hectic schedule, though he has faith in the Club’s youngsters.
“If you want to compete in all competitions you need a full squad, but we have a second team (EDS) that have been training with us for a month,” he said after the win at Chelsea.
“We know them quite well and I am pretty sure they can help us. They can help us to solve the problems but with this amount of games with 15 players it will be more difficult.”
Watch the full post-match press conference in the video above.
Official Man City Start Page and Wallpapers
Get the Official Manchester City Start page for your Chrome browser. Add the extension to your browser, for the latest news and wallpapers in your desktop tab.
