Manchester City suffer John Stones injury blow

Manchester City centre-back John Stones could be facing a spell on the sidelines after appearing to pick up a hamstring problem during Friday's FA Cup contest with Arsenal.

The England international had to be replaced in the latter stages of the first half against the Gunners, having pulled up with an injury following a challenge from Leandro Trossard.

Citizens head coach Pep Guardiola said after the match that Stones "was not ready", with the Spaniard claiming that 'tiredness' might have been an issue for the defender.

"I think so. Today he was not ready, I saw it in the first minutes, maybe he was tired, I don't know, but he was not ready and that's why when this happens you get injured," Guardiola told reporters.

Stones will undergo a scan to determine the extent of the damage, but he will almost certainly be unavailable for the team's next match against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on February 5.

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The English champions will then be in league action against Aston Villa on February 12 before travelling to leaders Arsenal in what is set to be a huge game in terms of the title race.

The 28-year-old has been a vital player for the Citizens during the 2022-23 campaign, making 18 appearances in all competitions, contributing one goal and two assists in the process.

Fellow Man City defender Nathan Ake scored the only goal of the match against Arsenal, with the home side progressing to the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 1-0 success.

Guardiola said that the FA Cup is "an important competition" for the club despite their main focus being success in the Premier League and Champions League.

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"(My players) are incredibly happy," Guardiola told reporters after the match. "It's not the Premier League, it's another competition. We are happy to be there after beating Chelsea and Arsenal in the first two rounds.

"It will be a completely different day in Emirates. Mikel [Arteta] doesn't rotate much in the Premier League. The impact from Oleks (Oleksandr Zinchenko), [Martin] Odegaard.... we know it's going to be different with more pressure.

"Now we have days off until the next game. Time to rest a bit and prepare a final against Spurs again. Game by game. FA Cup is an important competition, and we are so satisfied, but this (result) will be forgotten by them when we are there.

"It was a tight game. A difficult one. We knew it would be for their quality. The second half was better apart from 10 minutes after the goal. When Bernardo [Silva] and Kyle [Walker] came on it was much better and Julian [Alvarez] as well. I didn't expect their approach to go man to man and it made the process difficult."

Man City are six-time winners of the FA Cup, with their last success in the competition coming in 2019, when they recorded a 6-0 victory over Watford in the final.