Manchester City injury crisis nears end as centre-back returns to full first-team training today | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola can now see the end of his Manchester City injury crisis that has hampered the club’s hopes of top-level silverware this season.

The four-in-a-row Premier League champions hold a belief that their hunt for an unprecedented fifth in succession is now firmly over, but retain full focus as they look to secure a top-four spot this season.

Guardiola has often reflected on the importance of staying largely injury-free during a campaign should his side wish to compete for the biggest honours, particularly in a season where Manchester City have seen their options decimated at times.

“All the success we had with the domestic quadruple, treble, leagues and FA Cups all the time is because we had injuries but not much… Lots of reasons for injuries; lose focus, getting old, train differently, more, less intense. I don’t have an answer,” Guardiola told a press conference.

But as Manchester City’s fixture list intensifies both in the way of match frequency and the importance of contests, the squad roster at the Etihad Stadium is slowly coming back to its familiar strength with a new update arriving this week.

As confirmed in photographs released by Manchester City on Wednesday afternoon, mainstay central defender Ruben Dias has now returned to full first-team training this week after spending some time on an individual plan at the City Football Academy.

The Portugal international has been sidelined for several weeks with a muscular injury picked up in Manchester City’s 1-2 home defeat to Manchester United last month, having insisted to remain on the pitch despite ‘feeling something’ during the game.

That was the insight of Pep Guardiola speaking in the days after the defeat to Ruben Amorim’s side, as the 53-year-old explained last month, “75 minutes against United he (Ruben Dias) felt something, but he’s so strong and he wanted to stay on the pitch, and now he’s injured.”

Dias’ return will no doubt come as a huge boost to Manchester City, who will be desperate to continue their unbeaten run that has now stretched to five games after a 1-1 home draw to Everton was followed by three victories across competitions and a 2-2 tie with Brentford.

The return of Dias also now means that Manchester City’s injury list consists of John Stones and Rodri, with the former said to be “getting better” following his latest setback and seemingly on the verge of a return to first-team involvement.

City travel to Portman Road this weekend for a top-flight clash against Ipswich Town before heading to the French capital to meet with Paris Saint-Germain on matchday seven of the UEFA Champions League’s league phase format.

The rest of the month does not bring too much in the way of easing off, as Chelsea travel to the Etihad Stadium a week on Saturday, before City close out January and the league phase of Europe’s premier club competition with a home tie against Club Brugge.