Guardiola on defensive injuries, managers and January transfers

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been speaking to the media before Wednesday's Premier League game against Brighton at Etihad Stadium (kick-off 19:30 GMT).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

Ruben Dias, John Stones and Josko Gvardiol are all out with injuries but Nathan Ake is available. Dias will be sidelined for "four to six weeks" with a hamstring issue while Guardiola has "no idea" how long Stones will be out.
On the defensive injuries, he said: "You knew it before you asked me, every single player. I told you, everybody knows it [is difficult]. We have Nathan back, a central defender. Max Alleyne has come back from his loan at Watford. We appreciate Watford for what they have done for the young lad. That is the situation. We can always cope."
He later added: "Josko and Ruben will be back soon and John as well and the players from Afcon will be back. We will survive this moment and period and go for the next one. I am so confident and positive that we will do it."
Nico Gonzalez is "fine" after missing Sunday's draw with Chelsea but Guardiola said he needs to speak with the player to see how many minutes he could play.
With the recent sackings of Chelsea's Enzo Maresca and Manchester United's Ruben Amorim, Guardiola believes margins are small for managers: "If you don't get results, it doesn't matter. The past or present. Every manager is hired for their ideas and they are sacked for their results. Sometimes you need a process and time. The gaps are sometimes so small. In their last game United had a lot of absences and sometimes it is hard to cope. When important players are not available it is always difficult. But, the reason why [they were sacked]? To be honest, I don't know."
On the January transfer window, he said: "Maybe we get something but it is completely different [to last season]. We are not going to buy four or five players like last season."
Guardiola dismissed talk of the title race to focus on Brighton but admitted current leaders Arsenal are getting "stronger and stronger".

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