Arsenal
Guardiola Confirms Man City Will Be Without 5 Key Players For Arsenal Clash
Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Manchester City will be without five key first team players for the visit of title rivals Arsenal this weekend.
Manchester City will look to give their title hopes a major boost when they entertain third-place Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Ahead of the game, Pep Guardiola has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this afternoon and he’s offered ManCity.com a team news and injury update.
The City boss confirmed that Ilkay Gundogan has been ruled out after he suffered a serious knee injury during the win over Watford on Wednesday night.
The German international is still waiting for the results of a scan before the full extent of the injury is known but the initially feeling is the midfielder is facing several months on the sidelines.
Gardiola also confirmed that skipper Vincent Kompany will once again miss out as he continues to nurse a long term knee ligament injury which is expected to keep him on the sidelines until in to the New Year.
In a triple blow, the City boss also revealed that Fabian Delph will miss the visit of Arsenal this weekend as he’s still recovering from a muscle injury which has hampered the midfielder for most of the season.
Guardiola told the clubs website:
“Vincent, Fabian Delph and Ilkay are out. We are sad for Ilkay. We are going to miss him a lot. But it’s what it is – it’s unlucky. Sometimes it happens in football.
“He is sad, we are sad. The action of the opponent was correct. It was an unlucky situation.
“We don’t have Ilkay and Fernandinho. Another one is going to play and they are going to do as well as possible.”
With Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho suspended following their dismissals against Chelsea earlier this month, it means that Guardiola will have to make do without five of his first team players when they welcome Arsenal to the Etihad on Sunday afternoon.
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The Spanish coach may opt to deploy Nolito or Kelechi Iheanacho through the middle in the absence of Aguero while Yaya Toure is expected to partner Fernando in the middle of the park with Fernandinho and Gundogan out.
City welcome Arsenal to Manchester this weekend sitting just one point adrift of the north Londoners in the Premier League table but with leaders Chelsea six points adrift, neither side can afford to lose on Sunday so it promises to be a crucial match for both clubs.
