Ruben Dias injury blow as Pep Guardiola confirms Manchester City team news against Chelsea | OneFootball

Manchester City will have to return to action without mainstay central defender Ruben Dias this weekend, Pep Guardiola has confirmed on Friday afternoon.

The reigning Premier League champions return to action across competitions off the back of a shock turnaround of events in Paris on Wednesday night, throwing away a two-goal lead to lose 4-2 against PSG with 35 minutes remaining in the contest.

In Premier League competition, City remain unbeaten since Boxing Day and recorded a statement 0-6 win on the road against Ipswich Town last Sunday afternoon at a ground that many of their rivals in the division have struggled this campaign.

But while Manchester City appeared to be coming towards the end of a relentless battle with injury and fitness problems that have widely been credited for derailing their season, further issues have emerged since last weekend and most recently on Wednesday night.

Speaking during his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday evening’s meeting with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium, Pep Guardiola told reporters at the City Football Academy that Ruben Dias would be ruled out of the contest alongside Jeremy Doku due to injury.

Dias had sustained an issue in the first-half of Manchester City’s 4-2 defeat to PSG, requesting to be replaced at the half-time interval with Rico Lewis coming on for the remainder of the contest.

Aside from the exit of the Portuguese international from match proceedings this week, Guardiola confirmed that there are no further changes to the injury situation that presented itself for the midweek trip to the French capital.

Having revealed that Dias had sustained an abductor problem, Guardiola continued, “I don’t know yet [how long he will be out for]… He was stable, always was able to play a lot of games, but this season started to, yeah… It is what it is.”

In a boost to Manchester City’s options however, Pep Guardiola confirmed that all of his three new signings in Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, and Omar Marmoush will be in the matchday squad against Chelsea this weekend, as he admitted, “We don’t have players.”

The meeting with Chelsea is just one of two must-win contests for Manchester City in the Premier League and Champions League across the next seven days, as Club Brugge visit the Etihad Stadium next week on matchday eight of the league phase in Europe.

Lying in 25th position and in the elimination zone from the UEFA Champions League, Manchester City know that only a win would secure themselves a play-off spot for the last-16 in the competition after a string of poor results.

The next two games will then be followed up by similarly huge ties against the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle United, and Nottingham Forest in the Premier League alone, alongside a potential Champions League play-off clash and an FA Cup fourth round affair.