Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Manchester City defenders Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker and John Stones will miss the rest of the season due to injury.
Dias was forced off at half time in City's comfortable 5-0 victory over Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon after sustaining a muscle problem in the closing stages of the first half.
Walker and Stones, meanwhile, were not involved at the Etihad Stadium, with the former still struggling with an ankle problem, while the latter is recovering from a muscle injury.
Speaking to Sky Sports News after the game, Guardiola said: "Ruben, Kyle and John out until the end of the season. Next pre-season maybe they will be ready.
"[Ruben's problem is] muscular. Not the same position, but hamstring. We have 13 players and a half, Nathan is not in a perfect condition. We have no central defenders for these three days, but I'm not worried at all."
Dias, Walker and Stones are now set to miss City's final three Premier League fixtures against Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United and Aston Villa.
In a separate interview for mancity.com, Guardiola has revealed that Nathan Ake is struggling with an ankle problem and the Citizens will only have three fit senior defenders available for next Wednesday's trip to Wolves.
"[Ake] has a problem in his ankle for a long time," the Spaniard added. "It happened in the game against Leeds. Still he has a little niggle and doesn't feel comfortable.
"Maybe not [ready] for Wolves, but maybe for the next two. We have Joao [Cancelo], [Oleksandr Zinchenko] and Aymeric [Laporte]."
After suffering a heartbreaking Champions League exit in midweek, City returned to winning ways in emphatic style against the Magpies, as goals from Raheem Sterling (2), Laporte, Rodri and Phil Foden helped the Citizens to move three points ahead of Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.
Oliver Thomas
