Man City defender Dias sidelined with muscle injury

MANCHESTER, England (AP):

Manchester City’s troubled season was dealt another blow yesterday with confirmation that defender Ruben Dias will be out for up to four weeks because of a muscle injury.

Four-time defending Premier League champions City have lost eight and won just one of their last 11 games in all competitions.

Manager Pep Guardiola has cited injuries to key players such as Rodri as a factor in his team’s troubles and the loss of Dias compounds his problems.

Guardiola said Dias’ injury occurred during Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Manchester United.

“After 75 minutes against United he felt something. He’s strong and wanted to stay on the pitch, but now he’s injured,” Guardiola told a news conference.

Goalkeeper Ederson is also a doubt for today’s game against Aston Villa, he said, but John Stones, Mateo Kovacic and Manuel Akanji could feature. Rico Lewis is available again after suspension.

“The more players that come back the better,” Guardiola said.

Meanwhile Manchester United midfielder Mason Mount faces “several weeks” out of action because of a latest injury, head coach Ruben Amorim said yesterday.

The midfielder was substituted after 14 minutes of the 2-1 win over Manchester City on Sunday due to a muscle problem and was consoled by teammates as he left the field.

It was the latest setback in an injury-disrupted time for Mount since he joined United from Chelsea last year. He has made just eight Premier League starts since the beginning of last season.

Amorim did not give a definitive timeline for Mount’s recovery, saying only that he would be out for “several weeks.”

“I don’t know the exact date but he is going to be out for a long time. In that sense, it is part of football and we continue,” he said. “What I can do is to help ‘Mase,’ to teach him how to play our game when he is recovering.

“With Mason Mount, we are going to help him. It is really hard for the player to be out for so long and he’s trying really hard.”

Victor Lindelof was substituted before halftime of United’s 4-3 English League Cup defeat to Tottenham on Thursday and Luke Shaw is also out because of a muscle injury.