Ruben Dias
Ruben Dias
Pep Guardiola has been hit by more Manchester City injury blows as he prepares his team to take on Aston Villa.
The Blues will miss Ruben Dias for three to four weeks with a muscle injury picked up in the Manchester derby. Guardiola said that the defender picked up the issue during the game but wanted to stay on in the game to help the team.
Ederson is also a doubt for the game with a minor issue as City suffer more backwards steps just as they were hoping their injury situation was easing. Manuel Akanji is ready to come back into the squad for Aston Villa as well as John Stones and Mateo Kovacic.
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John Stones returned to the fold last week and was about to come on in the final minutes of the Manchester derby before the plan went wrong as Matheus Nunes conceded a daft penalty. Akanji has not featured since being taken off in the first half of the win over Nottingham Forest nearly three weeks ago but was back in training this week.
Nathan Ake, Oscar Bobb and Rodri are already on the sidelines; there are hopes that Ake and Bobb will not be out for too much longer. They have now been joined by Dias though as another City player heads for the treatment room, with Ederson potentially meaning Guardiola will be without five players for Saturday's game.
"What I want is my players back. I have the same feeling that the squad is really good, it's not about good or bad players but I want the players back," Guardiola said on Friday. "What happens in winter [in the January transfer window] or the end of the season, the club will decide what is best for the team."