Pep Guardiola press conference LIVE Stones latest ahead of Man City vs Chelsea

Pep Guardiola will speak to the press on Friday afternoon ahead of Manchester City vs Chelsea.

City come into the game on a high after securing their qualification to the Champions League knock-out stages with two games to spare after a dominant 3-0 win over Young Boys. Erling Haaland got another double while Phil Foden scored a beauty.

The only downside, and it's a big one, was that John Stones was taken off at half-time with a muscle injury that is set to rule him out for a lengthy period. It's a big blow for City and Guardiola may be asked about how the Blues will cope without him and for any other team news.

Chelsea, meanwhile, picked up a 4-1 win over Tottenham on Monday but it was far from a galvanising win since they struggled to break down a Spurs side reduced to nine men and only got their final three goals in the closing stages.

Follow our live blog below to see what the manager has to say.

For the first time this season at the fourth attempt, Manchester City won a game where Rodri didn't play.

Rested against Young Boys in the Champions League, Rodri watched his teammates ease to a 3-0 win with John Stones pushing up from centre-back and Mateo Kovacic dropping in to marshall the defensive midfield area. Even when Stones withdrew at half-time, City looked comfortable without Rodri - albeit against ten men.

Pep Guardiola confirmed after the game that Stones has picked up a recurrence of the injury that caused him to miss ten games at the start of the season, bemoaning that City played so well without Rodri because of Stones, and now the centre-back is out again. Curiously, he then named two defenders as other players who can help protect Rodri - in far more enthusiastic terms than specialist defensive