The five games Ruben Dias is expected to miss for Manchester City with one-month injury absence | OneFootball

Ruben Dias is expected to miss up to five matches for Manchester City across the next four weeks as he recovers from a muscular injury.

The Portuguese centre-back has become the latest in a long list of Manchester City stars to succumb to fitness and injury problems throughout the ongoing season, as Pep Guardiola continues to navigate his worst run of form of his career.

Across the last 11 matches across all competitions, City have managed just one victory in a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest, losing eight of those meetings and dropping to 5th in the Premier League, 22nd in the Champions League, and crashing out of the Carabao Cup.

This week has seen some much-needed welcome news for Manchester City as Manuel Akanji joined John Stones in recovering from their respective injury issues to partake in full first-team training ahead of the weekend’s trip to Aston Villa.

However, positivity around those returns has largely been shrouded by a huge blow at the back for the Premier League champions, with manager Pep Guardiola revealing that Ruben Dias would be ruled out for up to four weeks with a muscular injury.

It has been revealed that the 27-year-old sustained the problem during the closing 15 minutes of last weekend’s 1-2 home defeat to Manchester United, opting to continue for the remainder of the game despite the struggles physically.

As such, Pep Guardiola will have to restructure his defensive unit for up to five matches, if Ruben Dias’ one-month recovery process proves to be accurate, with four of those outings coming in the Premier League.

Here is the full list of matches that Ruben Dias is expected to miss for Manchester City over the course of the next four weeks as a direct result of his muscular injury:

Saturday 21 December – Aston Villa (A), Premier League

Thursday 26 December – Everton (H), Premier League

Sunday 29 December – Leicester City (A), Premier League

Saturday 4 January – West Ham United (H), Premier League

Saturday 11 January – Salford City (H), FA Cup Third Round

The biggest boost as part of that run will likely be that the current expectation is for Dias to be back and fully-fit for Manchester City selection when the club travels to the French capital of Paris for a crucial UEFA Champions League meeting with Paris Saint-Germain.

Following draws against Inter and Feyenoord, and defeats to Sporting CP and Juventus, Manchester City know that they must take points from the final two matchdays against PSG and Club Brugge in order to secure themselves a last-16 play-off clash in the New Year.