Pep Guardiola gives injury update on Ruben Dias & praises ‘incredible effort’ of four defenders

Pep Guardiola underlined the full extent of Manchester City’s defensive injury woes on Saturday in the wake of the 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth.

The Blues fell to a first Premier League loss of 2024 on the south coast, with Antoine Semenyo and Evanilson on target for Bournemouth, while Josko Gvardiol netted for the visitors at the Vitality.

In the midst of a busy fixture pile up, Guardiola admitted that City couldn’t match the opposition’s intensity. The champions have been struggling with a spate of absentees over recent weeks and Ruben Dias and John Stones added to the mounting list of injuries when they missed Saturday’s game.

“Ruben is muscular so is out until the international break,” Guardiola revealed after the game. “John has plantar fasciitis in the feet and today was not ready.”

Elsewhere, Kyle Walker was a shock return at the Vitality having not played for City in nearly a month. Guardiola said in midweek that Rico Lewis is exhausted, while Manuel Akanji also missed the Carabao Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspur with a knock. And after the Bournemouth loss, Guardiola explained he replaced Nathan Ake late on in order to preserve his fitness.

“Manu and Nathan make an incredible effort to be there,” explained the City boss. “Kyle as well has been 18 days without one training session with us and today was there.

“Rico, a lot of minutes, was tired. This is the position, we tried to handle at Spurs the minutes to be fresh here. We couldn't handle it, they were another pace today.

“They make an incredible effort,” he added. “There are players not in the best way. Until the last moment I didn't know Nathan could play. He said ‘no, I want to try’.

“After 2-0, I decided we need him for next Tuesday [against Sporting Lisbon]. There are seasons sometimes this kind of thing happens more than others. We have to handle it, people come back. Sooner or later the team will be back.”

Saturday’s loss means City have dropped to second in the table and trail Liverpool - who beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 on Saturday - by two points.