Pep Guardiola confirmed that Manchester City will have to do without centre-back Ruben Dias for at least the next three weeks.
Dias missed November with a calf injury, but played the full 90 minutes in each of City's last four matches, including the final. Manchester derby loses to Manchester United Last weekend.
In that 2-1 defeat to the Red Devils, Dias suffered an injury that Guardiola revealed for the first time would keep the centre-back out for a “long time”.
Pressed to give a specific time frame, Guardiola added: “Three or four weeks. Muscular. 75 minutes against… united. “He felt something, but he was very strong and wanted to stay on the field.”
Guardiola also revealed that goalkeeper Ederson “may not be ready” for City's trip to face Aston Villa on Saturday, but did not reveal the nature of the Brazilian's problem.
city He remains without Dutch international Nathan Ake, but Dias' absence has been compensated for by the return of both John Stones and Manuel Akanji to full training.
He said: “Manuel and John are back in training.” “This is good for us. Like many players who came back it was better.
“I don't know yet (whether they can start against Aston Villa). Yesterday was their first training session, I would say it was right. They have been out for a while.”
City head into the match having lost eight of their last 11 games in all competitions – a run that is comfortably the worst of Guardiola's managerial career. The eight-time Premier League winners trail leaders Liverpool by nine points as a result, and are fifth in the table behind Chelsea, Arsenal And the Nottingham Forest surprise package.
