Manchester City's preparations for Saturday's title clash with Chelsea have been disrupted by the absence of Pep Guardiola after the club's coronavirus outbreak last week.

Guardiola was one of 21 members of the first-team group to have been forced into self-isolation.

The Catalan tested positive for coronavirus in the days before Friday's FA Cup victory at Swindon Town and has remained away from the club's training base.

City boss Pep Guardiola was one of 21 players and staff to have been forced into self-isolation

The 50-year-old is expected to be back in the dugout for the visit of Thomas Tuchel's side providing he is showing no symptoms, but the squad's preparations have so far been completed without him.

First-team coach Rodolfo Borrell took charge of the Premier League champions at Swindon in the absence of Guardiola and assistant Juanma Lillo.

Guardiola kept in touch with the stand-in manager over the phone before and during half-time of the third-round tie, although Borrell's mobile later ran out of battery.

Borrell had revealed that City were hopeful of seeing Guardiola taking training this week but that failed to materialise, with the manager isolating at home alongside his family.

The league's defending champions have gone 10 points clear of second-placed Chelsea following a run of 11 consecutive wins.

But they suffered a major Covid outbreak last week, when 14 members of staff and seven players were in isolation.

John Stones, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and Fernandinho all missed the Swindon victory. A number of stars, understood to include Sterling, have since returned to training and as of last night there was no suggestion that Saturday's game is under threat.