Man City star out injured till subsequent yr as Pep Guardiola fights to avoid wasting season
Pep Guardiola’s season has gone from bad to worse following the news Ruben Dias will be sidelined for up to a month injured.
And Guardiola has revealed Manchester City star Dias could have made the problem worse, by refusing to go off during last weekend’s derby defeat to United. Dias felt a muscle strain during the second half of the clash.
But the Portuguese defender didn’t want to leave the field, and now faces up to four weeks out. The news is a further setback for Guardiola as he battles to save is side’s shambolic season.
The English champions have won just one of their last 11 games to drop out of the top four. City face a difficult trip to Aston Villa this weekend, when Guardiola will be hoping John Stones and Manuel Akanji make themselves available following spells out themselves.
Guardiola said: “It’s a muscular problem and he (Dias) will be out for three to four weeks. It happened after 75 minutes against (Manchester) United. He felt something, but he’s so strong he wanted to stay on the pitch – and now he’s injured.
(Image: Getty Images)
“Manu and John are back in training the last few days, so that’s good for us. I don’t know yet (if they will be available). Thursday was their first proper training session after being out for a while. We will see.”
Should Dias be sidelined for a month, he will miss a host of games for the reigning Premier League champions over the busy festive period. He will miss their three Premier League games before the turn of the year against Villa, Everton and Leicester City, as well as their game against West Ham on January 4th.
Following that, City take on Salford City on January 11th in the FA Cup third round, before returning to action in the Premier League to face Brentford. They then face Ipswich Town and PSG in the space of four day towards the end of January on the 19th and 22nd respectively, before welcoming Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea to the Etihad on the 25th.
