MANCHESTER CITY DEFENDER Ruben Dias has been ruled out for up to four weeks with a muscular issue, compounding Pep Guardiola’s problems as he seeks to save the club’s season.
The Portugal international missed all five matches in November with a calf problem but returned at the start of December and has been an ever-present this month.
But he will not be available for City’s trip to Aston Villa on Saturday, while there is uncertainty about the fitness of goalkeeper Ederson.
“Ruben is out for a long time and Ederson I don’t know if he will be ready tomorrow,” Guardiola said on Friday.
The City boss added that Dias would be out for “three or four weeks”.
“After 75 minutes against United he felt something,” he said. “He’s strong and wanted to stay on the pitch but now he’s injured.”
Injury-hit City have suffered a dramatic collapse in form over recent weeks, losing eight of their past 11 games in all competitions and are fifth in the Premier League table.
Nathan Ake remains out but fellow defenders Manuel Akanji and John Stones are back in full training.
“Manuel and John are back in training,” said Guardiola. “That is good for us. As many players that are back the better.
“I don’t know yet (if they can start against Aston Villa). Yesterday was their first training session, I would say, properly. They have been out for a while.”
Bloody hell that’s a great piece Gavin, I certainly learned a lot there, Strange to see how Germany’s political picture is changing and that unification still has its issues which I suppose is predictable but hopefully this tournament can bring a sense of unity rather than the division which AFD promotes
Yes, great article Gavin
What a great article
Good article, just fails to mention why Germans are voting this way, maybe Gavin should take a walk around the suburbs of Frankfurt at night and he will quickly see why.
@Tom Barry: The bankers?
A really well written piece. Germany has an incredibly complex relationship with itself.