"It's over man", "Why isn't he playing" - Fans surprised as Manchester City man left out of squad for Crystal Palace clash

Manchester City fans are left surprised as Jeremy Doku misses their Premier League clash against Crystal Palace. The Belgian picked up an injury and has been ruled out of the match.

Guardiola has named Gianluigi Donnarumma in goal once again, with Matheus Nunes and Nick O'Reilly as the fullbacks. Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol are the center-backs once again, with Nathan Ake and Abdukodir Khusanov on the bench.

Nico Gonzalez and Tijjani Reijnders are in the pivot, with Phil Foden playing in the attacking midfield role. Bernardo Silva and Ryan Cherki are on the wings, with Erling Haaland leading the attack as expected.

Manchester City fans were only thinking of Doku and posted:

Pep Guardiola missed the press conference ahead of the Crystal Palace game, with assistant Kolo Toure taking over. The former defender spoke about the squad's improvement and said:

"The team still plays the football that they used to play, but one thing they had more is aggression, the fighting for the second balls for example. We know that in the Premier League it is very physical and having the ball is top, but when you don't have it you have to fight."

"That's the difference from last season. The team is growing, it is getting better every single game and day and that's what we want. We are growing and let's see where we're going to be at the end of the season."

Apart from Doku, Manchester City are also without three players today - John Stones, Rodri, and Mateo Kovacic. The Englishman has a thigh issue, the Spaniard a hamstring issue, and the former Chelsea man is yet to recover from his ankle issue.

Manchester City not thinking about Arsenal, says Kolo Toure

Kolo Toure was asked if Manchester City were thinking about catching Arsenal in the Premier League title race, and Guardiola's assistant was quick to say that they were only focused on themselves. He said:

“For us, we just focus on what we can do. We know the quality of Arsenal. They have a really strong squad and a fantastic manager. But it’s all down to us. We have the best manager in the world and he’s doing an incredible job every day."

"His passion for the game, he loves the players and he loves his staff. We know he will take us as far as we can to win the league. For us we just focus on what we can do really. Not Arsenal. Every game is like a final for us.”

Manchester City can close the gap back to two points after Arsenal pulled five points away on Saturday, December 13, after a late win over Wolverhampton.

Edited by Sripad