Why Ruben Dias misses Manchester City’s Premier League clash against Everton

Manchester City defender Ruben Dias was absent from the matchday squad for Wednesday’s Premier League clash on Merseyside.

The 26-year-old becomes the latest Manchester City player to be sidelined for a Premier League match, missing Wednesday’s crucial fixture at Goodison Park, alongside attacking trio Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne.

Guardiola named John Stones and Manuel Akanji as the centre-back pairing for Wednesday evening’s fixture, amid the absence of Dias.

Manchester City travel to Merseyside for their first Premier League fixture since being crowned World Champions, with the Sky Blues having won the FIFA Club World Cup on Friday, beating Fluminense in Saudi Arabia.

City, who have won just one of their past six Premier League matches, are looking to reignite their title bid with a win at Everton, with the chance for the Sky Blues to close the gap to five points to current league leaders Liverpool.

Guardiola was able to name Rodri in his Manchester City starting team despite an injury scare in the Middle East last week, as the Spaniard was replaced with a suspected knee injury, after a nasty challenge.

Four players miss Wednesday’s match however, with Manchester City revealing that Dias misses the Premier League clash due to illness.

The defender has started 21 matches for the Sky Blues across all competitions so far this season.

Haaland also remains sidelined, with the Norwegian having been absent since a defeat to Aston Villa at the start of the month.

Speaking about the recovery of the 23-year-old, Guardiola said: “Still he’s not with the team. He feels better but he hasn’t made one training session with us. Hopefully in January he can come back with us.”