Guardiola confirms Fernandinho injury blow after Manchester City's League Cup final win over Arsenal

Pep Guardiola has suggested that Fernandinho could miss the upcoming Premier League games against Arsenal on Thursday (1 March) and Chelsea on Sunday (4 March) after the Manchester City midfielder picked up a muscle injury during the 3-0 win over the Gunners in the Carabao Cup final.

The Brazilian midfielder was forced off and replaced by Bernardo Silva in the 52nd minute of the game with a suspected hamstring injury.

Guardiola confirmed the blow in the press conference with Manchester City now sweating on the results of the scans ahead of the coming clashes against Arsenal and Chelsea.

"The next games I think he will be out. We will see on Monday the extent of the injury but it's a big, big loss for us," Guardiola said following the 3-0 win over the Gunners in the League Cup final.

Meanwhile, Guardiola expressed his delight with the victory as goals from Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva gave the Spaniard his first trophy as City manager.

"It is important to win this trophy because our supporters are so happy. I'm happy for our fans, for my staff, for the players and for Sheikh Mansour and our Chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak," the Spaniard added.

"The first half was not good – too many mistakes with simple passes – but the second half we played with more courage, more personality. That is why we were outstanding after the break."

Guardiola highlighted the importance of the win following the surprising elimination to Wigan in the FA Cup and he hopes that it will be a morale boost ahead of the title run-in.

"It was so important we won this after going out of the FA Cup. It's a pity because we played 45 minutes against Wigan with 10 against 11 and we played good, but unfortunately couldn't go through.

"Now we have to focus absolutely on the Premier League and trying to win the games we need to win the title and try and progress to the Champions League quarter-final. This win is not for me, it's for Manchester City."