Man City's woes deepen with injury to Ruben Dias and Pep Guardiola

Manchester City have suffered another injury setback as defender Ruben Dias is expected to be out for up to four weeks ahead of their Saturday lunchtime clash with Aston Villa this weekend.

Manager Pep Guardiola has revealed the Portuguese star suffered a muscle injury in the final moments of the recent derby defeat to Manchester United.

Speaking at a press conference, Guardiola shared: “Three or four weeks. Muscular. After 75 minutes against United he felt something.”

He added: “He is strong and wanted to stay on the pitch, but now he is injured. Ruben has been out for a long time and Ederson, I don't know if he will be ready tomorrow.”

But even though Nathan Ake remains unavailable, there was better news for Guardiola with Manuel Akanji and John Stones both back in full training.

The Swiss international was sent off at half-time in the win over Nottingham Forest earlier this month, while Stones has not been on the pitch since the defeat to Spurs in November.

“Manuel and John are back in training,” he said. “It’s good for us. The more players that come 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’ve been gone for a while.”