Gareth Southgate's spiky response to John Stones injury as seven Man City players doubts vs Arsenal
manchestereveningnews.co.ukGareth Southgate defended his decision to play John Stones for England on Tuesday - saying other key players for Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal were used in the same way.
Pep Guardiola told his players to be sensible over their minutes for their countries over the international break given they were all playing friendlies, and Erling Haaland reported that the manager joked to his squad that he would 'come after them' if anyone got injured.
With Ederson, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish all remaining at City to recover from their own injuries, City saw Kyle Walker withdraw from England duty after limping out of the defeat to Brazil with an apparent hamstring injury.
Then, on Tuesday, Stones started against Belgium but limped off in the early stages with an adductor problem. ALSO READ: Man City handed fresh John Stones injury worry ahead of Arsenal Premier League fixture ALSO READ: Stones, Walker, Haaland, De Bruyne - Man City injury news and return dates ahead of Arsenal After the game, Southgate provided an update on Stones and denied that he had been rushed back or overused this week - using Erling Haaland, Martin Odegaard and Virgil van Dijk to make his point. “We measure everything,” he said. “The first game wasn’t a game which was a high level in terms of intensity.
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