Pep Guardiola Confirms All But Two Man City Players Will Return Early for Community Shield

Manchester City will have just two senior players missing from their Community Shield match against Chelsea on August 5, with Pep Guardiola confirming that 'most of them' are coming back early from their summer holidays.

The Citizens saw 16 of their players head to Russia this summer on international duty, with all of them eligible for a maximum of three weeks holiday once their World Cup campaign came to an end.

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But Guardiola has confirmed that the majority of his title-winning squad will be available when City travel to Wembley next month, with their league campaign kicking off in London a week later against Arsenal.

"Most of them are coming back. We have just four or five days to prepare for the [Community Shield] so we have to adapt," Guardiola said ahead of their final match in pre-season against Bayern Munich, quoted by the Telegraph. "Some of them are coming back before, some are coming back after the final.

"We need players for the final but if they are not coming back we'll play with the guys who are here.

"It is not an ideal situation, we prefer to be together but it is the same for [Bayern Munich manager] Niko Kovač or for the other managers - the calendar is the calendar so we have to adapt.

"We have made one pre-season and now we need another pre-season before the start of the season," he added.  "I would prefer for them to come back as soon as possible but it is not possible."

Manchester City's title defence kicks off at the Emirates on August 12, but the reigning champions will then have an easier run of fixtures before their next heavyweight clash against Liverpool at the start of October.