Football
Pep Guardiola Offers Little in the Way of Hope as He Shares Kevin De Bruyne Injury Update Ahead of Arsenal Clash
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Get to know Charlie Rhodes betterPublished14 hours ago on September 19, 2024
While Manchester City will have been enthused by Arsenal’s injury woes of late, they too have concerns of their own as Pep Guardiola shares a Kevin De Bruyne injury update following their midweek Champions League stalemate.
Kevin De Bruyne Injury Update
A repeat of the 2023 Champions League final saw Manchester City kick off their Champions League campaign with a mouthwatering clash against Inter Milan on Wednesday.
As far as preparation goes this is about as good as it gets for City – albeit having shared the spoils in a goalless draw – who will be tasked with unlocking another immovable object in the shape of Arsenal on Sunday.
Much of the pre-match chatter has been focused around the state of Arsenal’s squad; in particular the condition of captain Martin Odegaard, who looks set to be out for at least a month with ligament damage.
However, it looks as if City may be without their own creator-in-chief after Kevin De Bruyne was withdrawn at half-time with a suspected groin problem.
Kevin De Bruyne with a knock and potential injury before we play Assnal pic.twitter.com/kQwIt4Svq2
— City Chief (@City_Chief) September 18, 2024
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was asked about the condition of the Belgian, and whether he would be fit enough to face title rivals Arsenal on the weekend.
Guardiola told TNT: “I don’t know, I haven’t spoken with the doctors yet. I will have more information when I do. We will assess him tomorrow.”
“I will have more info tomorrow,” he told reporters, before adding. “The way [Inter] defend, I was thinking after 35 minutes that I wanted to make this substitution.
“After the doctor said to me that Kevin was not ready to play but I was ready to make this substitution anyway.”
Following the pre-season blow to Oscar Bobb, Nathan Ake was also recently added to a growing injury list.
Despite this, City remain slight favourites across UK bookmakers with the Gunners failing to win at the Etihad since January 2015.
Meanwhile, Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta may welcome back summer signing Riccardo Califiori to the fold after the Italian returned to training, although the fixture will come too soon for fellow new recruit Mikel Merino.