Ruben Dias injury adds to Manchester City problems

Manchester City have suffered a fresh injury blow with defender Ruben Dias ruled out for up to four weeks.

Manager Pep Guardiola has also revealed goalkeeper Ederson is doubtful for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Aston Villa.

The problems are the latest to hit the champions, who have lost eight of their last 11 games in all competitions, winning just once in that sequence.

Dias, who had a spell out in November with a calf injury, suffered discomfort in the latter stages of last weekend’s derby loss to Manchester United.

Guardiola said at a press conference: “After 75 minutes against United he felt something. He’s strong and wanted to stay on the pitch but now he’s injured.”

Ederson, who was dropped for three games earlier this month, is also not fully fit.

The news comes just as City had been hoping their injury problems were easing.

Guardiola’s side have been hampered by a lengthy casualty list for most of the campaign.

Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder Rodri has been their most notable absentee having been ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.

On the positive side, defender John Stones and midfielder Mateo Kovacic were on the bench against United and are back in contention. Another central defender, Manuel Akanji, is also close to returning and could be involved this weekend.

With Rico Lewis back from suspension, Nathan Ake and Oscar Bobb are the only other senior players on the sidelines.

City have also had some useful breathing space since their late derby capitulation – when they conceded twice in the closing minutes to lose 2-1 – having not had a midweek fixture.

Guardiola said: “Manu and John have been back in training for the last few days so that’s good for us.

“The more players that come back the better. We’ve made a good few training sessions, we’ve trained good. The guys are ready.”

City’s current run is the worst of Guardiola’s managerial career, which has included glittering stints at Barcelona and Bayern Munich as well as City.

Yet the mastermind behind 18 trophy successes in eight years at the Etihad Stadium maintains the same outlook that has served him well in the past.

“I handle good the good moments, I handle good the bad moments,” he said.

“I’ve had the bad ones in 30-40 years of my career. Always after a while, two or three, we were able to come back. Now it takes longer but we will take experience from this for the future.

“We’ve had 40 bad days of results. Comparing it to eight years of incredible results, yes it’s bad, absolutely. The results speak for themselves.

“This is the reality, we are not winning games and we have to. It doesn’t matter the circumstances.

“But I know the moment we get a good result the team will come back. This is what we are trying to do.”