Arsenal sustain second injury blow to star player ahead of Manchester City showdown | OneFootball

Manchester City have received further news from their next Premier League opponents regarding a potential fitness concern ahead of the weekend’s meeting with Arsenal.

The two clubs have established themselves as the leading pairing in the Premier League after just four matches, in what many are expecting to be another City against Arsenal battle for the top-flight crown this season.

City lead their rivals however, having recorded four wins from their opening four matches and star striker Erling Haaland looking stronger then every with nine goals to his name – which is more than any other club has scored as a collective.

With Pep Guardiola currently handling two absentees from his first-team squad through injury, his managerial counterpart over at the Emirates Stadium is having to battle a much more difficult test with problems sustained to two key first-team stars.

Martin Odegaard’s ankle injury sustained during the international break and duties with Norway meant that the Arsenal club captain would miss the meeting with Tottenham last weekend, and is unlikely to feature against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

In a further concern to Arteta ahead of the Gunners’ visit to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, Bukayo Saka was forced off during the 0-1 win over Tottenham having been deemed unable to continue by medical staff and from his own perspective.

When asked for an update on the England international after the contest, Arteta insisted that he was unsure of the severity of the problem. “I don’t know,” the Spaniard said. “I made two changes with the front players and suddenly he’s down.”

Mikel Arteta continued, “I looked at the bench and the options that we had and we had to adapt. I don’t know exactly what it is but he could not continue.”

Crucially for Arsenal, they will no doubt by buoyed by the fact that their defensive unit remains in tact in a week that also sees them embark on their latest UEFA Champions League campaign with a clash against Atalanta away from home kicking off their League Phase.

For Manchester City, they take on Inter Milan in the second of four consecutive home fixtures, with a meeting against Arsenal then followed up by a Carabao Cup third round tie against Watford just 49 hours later.