Manchester City are set to miss two more defenders in Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias for the home against Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. on Wednesday evening.
Dias has been ruled out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury while Gvardiol’s 2025-26 season could be effectively over due to a tibial fracture to his right leg. Both players picked up the injuries while playing as the centre back pairing in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.
This comes after senior defender John Stones continues to be sidelined with injury while Nathan Ake also only recently recovering from a couple of bouts on the sidelines of his own.
“Everybody knows it I think. Players are available and some are not,” manager Pep Guardiola said on Tuesday. “Dias,
hamstring for four to six weeks. Stones, no idea. Not ready for the next games. Ake fine. Gvardiol out for a long time.”
Guardiola sounded particularly sympathetic for Stones, who has for years been a lynchpin of his set-up.
“(He is not) ready for the next games. Of course, he’s an important player for us for a long time and he was injured for a long time last season. This season looks the same. He’s trying a lot and trying everything, but he’s not fit,” he said.
City are also without left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri, who is at the Africa Cup of Nations. They are also dealing with absensces in attack with Savinho, Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb and Omar Marmoush all our through either injury or international duty.
Last year, City did a complete squad refresh in January to correct their poor form, spending by some reports a whopping £180M (Rs 2,190 crore approx), almost as much as the rest of the Premier League combined.
Although Guardiola denied a similar spending spree could be on cards this year, they are said to be close to getting Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo and keeping tabs on Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi.
“Maybe we’ll get something, but it’s completely different,” said. “We are not going to buy four or five players (like) last season,” the Spaniard said.
City are six points behind league leaders Arsenal, who have only recently started to get most of their squad members back together.
