FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Manchester United - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - December 15, 2024 Manchester United's Rasmus Hojlund in action with Manchester City's Ruben Dias Action Images via Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Manchester City will be without defender Ruben Dias for three to four weeks with a muscle injury, manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday, another blow for the reeling champions whose hopes of hanging on to the Premier League title are dwindling.
City travel to Aston Villa on Saturday hoping to right the ship amid the worst run of results in Guardiola's managerial career that has them languishing fifth in the league table. They also have just one victory to show for their last 11 games across all competitions.
Dias was injured in City's calamitous 2-1 derby loss to Manchester United on Sunday.
"It was a muscular injury, (after) 75 minutes against Manchester United he felt something. He is so strong and he stayed on the pitch and now he is injured," Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
Fellow defender Manuel Akanji, however, returned to training this week after suffering an injury early this month, "which is good for us," Guardiola said.
City lost to United in spectacular fashion last weekend, leading in the 88th minute before their cross-town rivals scored two goals in less than two minutes.
Guardiola looked disconsolate after, and pointed the finger squarely at himself for the shocking run, telling reporters during a long and heartfelt post-game press conference that "I am not good enough."
His mood had improved by Friday.
"I just finished a game where we were close to winning and we lost. For the sequences that happened I was not happy," Guardiola said. "I tried to be honest with myself here right now in six or seven days ago, (but) if you fall down six times you have to stand up seven.
"I am fine. I am a normal person with feelings like all of us. When a situation is going well we are better and when it is not going well professionally we are more (focused) on what we have to do."
Just two points and two places behind Guardiola's team in the league table, Aston Villa will climb over City with a victory on Saturday at Villa Park.
Unai Emery's team have also had significantly more success than City in their Champions League campaign, where they are fifth in the standings with two games left in the league phase while City are languishing in 22nd.
"I'm not surprised. Top, excellent manager. (They had good success) qualifying for the Champions League and the results in the Champions League they speak for themselves," Guardiola said. "They are handling it well because when I have been in many clubs handling both competitions, they have done really well."
City lost 1-0 at Villa Park just over a year ago before rebounding to thrash Emery's side 4-1 in early-April. Guardiola said, however, there was little he could glean from those games.
"Why do you have to compare what happened?" the Spaniard said. "The past is the past, this is a new moment, you have to deal with it."
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Toby Davis)
