Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne is a doubt for Sunday’s huge Premier League clash with title rivals Arsenal after coming off at half-time against Inter on Wednesday.
City were stifled by the Serie A visitors as they began their Champions League campaign, unable to find a way through a well marshalled midfield and defence.
Failure to break Inter’s lines, which also saw Erling Haaland fall short of breaking a Cristiano Ronaldo goalscoring record that he can now only match at best, was further hindered by De Bruyne not being on the pitch in the second half.
The Belgian, who missed the first half of last season with a hamstring injury, appeared to be feeling discomfort in his groin after running at goal and being challenged by Inter goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Pep Guardiola made the decision to replace De Bruyne with Ilkay Gundogan at the interval on the instruction of the club’s medic: “The doctor said to me he was not ready to play [in the second half].”
Straight after the match, City didn’t have enough information to know if De Bruyne, who turned 33 during the summer, will be ruled out for any length of time.
But it puts a serious question mark over what kind of condition he will be in come Sunday when Arenal arrive at the Etihad Stadium, with so little recovery time in between.
The Gunners have been dealt their own injury blow as captain Martin Odegaard is set to be sidelined “for a while” with ankle ligament damage suffered while on international duty.
City and Arsenal are both still unbeaten at this stage of the Premier League season, with two points separating the pair in the current standings after four games. A victory for either side would be a huge statement, even at this early stage of the campaign, with City potentially able to open up a five-point lead or Arsenal in with a chance of leapfrogging them to go top.
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