Gabriel Jesus has been ruled out of action - leaving Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola with just 13 fit senior players.
Jesus was forced to pull out of the Brazil squad for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers,after picking up an injury in City’s 3-1 win at Wolves.
Guardiola was already without several of City's most influential players, including star striker Sergio Aguero, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva.
It means Guardiola will have to call on several youth players for Sunday’s visit of Leicester, which could see 17-year-old striker Liam Delap make his second start in four days.
Delap, son of former Stoke midfielder Rory, marked his City debut with a stunning strike in City's 2-1 EFL Cup win over Bournemouth on Thursday.
"With the situation we have right now, we have just 13 players available in the first-team,” said Guardiola.
“But at this club, excuses don’t exist. We have 13 players and we have to win the games.
“We need the academy, not just for the training sessions. The players there can be selected for the games.
"With the problems we have up front, of course Liam will stay with us. We'll see if we need to use him.
“He has a lot of things to improve and we cannot anticipate the progress of every young player.
“But Liam is a different striker to what we have in terms of physicality.”
The Brazil national team confirmed the withdrawal of Jesus from their squad for the qualifiers against Peru and Bolivia next month.
