Ruben Dias and John Stones add to Pep Guardiola woes as injury timeframe revealed | OneFootball

Manchester City face the prospect of being without Ruben Dias and John Stones for their remaining two matches before the international break.

The Premier League champions succumbed to a second successive defeat on the road and across competitions at the weekend, falling to a 2-1 loss at the hands of the ever-impressive Bournemouth on the south coast.

Goals from Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson put the Cherries into a deserved two-goal lead either side of the half-time interval, before a late Josko Gvardiol header inspired Manchester City to seek out a dramatic equaliser which would not come.

The build-up to the contest was largely centred around Manchester City’s growing injury picture, and while concerns were somewhat put to ease by the returns of Kevin De Bruyne, Savinho, Kyle Walker, and Jeremy Doku among others, two new names emerged.

Ruben Dias and John Stones were both absent from the Manchester City travelling squad that made the trip to Bournemouth this weekend, and following new updates from the Etihad Stadium boss, neither defender is likely to feature again in the upcoming week.

Speaking after Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon, Pep Guardiola revealed that Ruben Dias will not feature again for the club until at least after the upcoming November international break.

The Manchester City boss revealed that the Portugal international has sustained a ‘muscular issue’ which rules him out of the upcoming away trips against Sporting in the UEFA Champions League and Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League.

Dias’ central defensive teammate John Stones was also absent from the matchday squad at Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon, with Guardiola revealing that the Englishman has an issue in his feet. “I don’t know if he’ll be back for the next two games,” said Pep.

The more in-depth update from Guardiola follows his pre-match comments on the duo, in which the Manchester City manager told television broadcasters, “John and Ruben will be out for a little bit long time.”

The defeat to Bournemouth now leaves Manchester City back in 2nd place in the Premier League table as they failed to extend their lead on Arsenal following their own defeat at Newcastle earlier on Saturday.

A two-point margin separates the reigning champions from Arne Slot’s Liverpool, whilst Nottingham Forest’s surge of fine form moves them into 3rd place and four points behind Pep Guardiola and his squad.