Pep Guardiola has revealed how long Manchester City duo Ruben Dias and John Stones will be sidelined for.
The centre-backs started in midweek as City crashed out of the Carabao Cup at the hands of Tottenham but were nowhere to be seen at the clash at Bournemouth on Saturday.
The Citizens, struggling with multiple fitness and injury issues, were defeated 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium, their first Premier League defeat of the season.
Speaking before the game, Guardiola ambiguously said Dias and Stones were ‘ruled out for little bit of long time’.
The manager clarified the extent and nature of their injuries in his post-match press conference, adding: ‘Ruben’s injury is muscular and will be out until the international break.
‘And John has a fasciitis splinter in the feet and today he was not ready. I don’t know if he’ll be back for the next two games.’
If true, this means the defenders will miss Tuesday’s trip to Sporting Lisbon, managed by incoming Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim, in the Champions League.
They’ll also be absent for the Premier League trip to Brighton next Saturday, but could return after the international break when they host Spurs on November 23.
Defeat at Bournemouth means City have been overtaken at the top of the table by Liverpool, with the Reds now two points ahead.
‘We couldn’t match up to the intensity. All the situations with the long balls, we couldn’t win it,’ Guardiola added.
‘And when you don’t win these types of balls to [Antoine] Semenyo and others, our central defenders and strikers have to defend deeper.
‘We struggled to make our [game], but especially for that. In the game, for many reasons, they were higher than us.
‘We have players with rhythm and the other players have a lack of rhythm because we could not train due to injuries. But we knew it.’
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