Ruben Dias sends clear warning to Arsenal, Premier League, and Champions League rivals after Manchester City draw | OneFootball

Manchester City defender Ruben Dias has sent a clear warning to the club’s cross-competition rivals over the squad’s performance levels this season.

The latest comments from within the Etihad Stadium camp come after Pep Guardiola’s side were held to an opening night draw at the hands of Italian giants Inter Milan, in a repeat of the 2023 UEFA Champions League final.

Both sides will not know what the potential repercussions of failing to win will be, with the latest edition of Europe’s premier club competition having been revamped into a 36-team league format, with all sides playing eight matches against differing oppositions.

The draw does however maintain Manchester City’s unbeaten start to the new season, registering an FA Community Shield win over Manchester United, as well as four successive statement wins in the Premier League.

Speaking after City’s 0-0 draw against Inter on Wednesday night, defender Ruben Dias revealed his belief that he and the wider squad have more levels to reach in terms of their overall performance this season.

“The season has just started,” Dias pointed out. “Like the manager said, when we came back from the international break, the pre-season had just finished. It’s very early ages, obviously we know what we are as a team, and today I think we were on a very good level.”

The Manchester City vice-captain continued, “We ended up not scoring, we could have, we had the chances, but that’s football and obviously there’s a lot of margin to progress from our side.”

Looking ahead to the meeting with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, Dias said, “We’ll take the rest we need. We know Arsenal very well, they know us very well, it’s a very intense game. It’s still early stages, but it’s never too early to play a clash like this. We will be there, we will be ready.”

Manchester City take on the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium this weekend with a fresh injury concern to contend with, after Kevin De Bruyne was withdrawn after 45 minutes of action in the Champions League with a suspected groin problem.

Pep Guardiola was unable to provide a clear update on the severity of the issue, or whether De Bruyne would be fit in time for the weekend’s meeting with Mikel Arteta’s side. However, another press conference and opportunity to update is scheduled for Friday afternoon.