Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has suffered a fresh injury blow with Portugal central defender Ruben Dias out for “three or four weeks” with a muscle injury.
Dias will miss the entire festive program and a possible FA Cup third-round tie with Salford on January 11 after picking up the injury in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.
The 27-year-old faces a battle to be fit for City’s crucial Champions League trip to Paris Saint-Germain on January 22.
Dias has already missed seven games this season with a calf injury, adding to a defensive injury list that has ruled out John Stones, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Kyle Walker at various points, while Ballon d’Or winner Rodri will miss out. The rest of the domestic season after suffering a cruciate knee ligament injury.
“It’s a muscle problem and he will be out for three to four weeks,” said Guardiola.
“He felt something after 75 minutes against United. But he was very strong and wanted to stay on the pitch. Now he is injured.”
Guardiola confirmed that Stones, Akanji and midfielder Mateo Kovacic had all trained this week and could feature at Aston Villa on Saturday (12:30 GMT), but said goalkeeper Ederson was a “doubt” with an unspecified problem.
“Ederson is struggling with some holes in his leg, he doesn’t feel fully healthy,” Guardiola said. “Ederson is very important for us.”
Amidst City’s current 11-match winless run, Guardiola has expressed wonder about using youngsters James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly.
City have made a point of keeping both players despite having several loan options. Yet Makati has made just two substitute appearances – coming in the last minute on both occasions – while O’Reilly is yet to make his league debut.
But it looks like they will stay at the club for the second half of the season, with Guardiola replying “I don’t think so” when asked if the players could leave in the January transfer window.
The Spaniard said he is “not a big fan” of buying players in January but it is “probable” City will see someone sign because “the situation this season has been special”.
