Manchester City and Real Madrid played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night.
26.03.2024 - 12:43 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Manchester City's preparations to face Arsenal this weekend have suffered another setback with news of a fifth player withdrawing from international duty.
Ederson, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish had all been made unavailable or withdrawn from squads ahead of the current international break, with Pep Guardiola saying he hoped all three would be back in training this week. Pictures published by City on Monday showed De Bruyne and Grealish in training as planned, suggesting they are on track to be available against Arsenal on Sunday.
Kyle Walker limped out of England's friendly with Brazil at the weekend. Reports suggest he could be back in time to take on Arsenal but his hamstring injury will be assessed on his return to City. Now, his possible replacement against Arsenal - Manu Akanji - has become the fifth player to pull out of an international fixture.
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Switzerland boss Murat Yakin confirmed Akanji picked up a knock in their friendly with Belgium and missed training on Monday ahead of their away game at Ireland on Tuesday. Now, reports in Irish media suggest Akanji has been left out of the Swiss matchday squad and will not play any part in the game.
City's players are due to report back to the club on Thursday ahead of the Arsenal showdown, where Guardiola will assess the state of his squad. Erling Haaland revealed Guardiola jokingly told his players he would 'come after them' if they got injured this week, having previously told them publicly to be sensible over their workload ahead of a busy schedule ahead for City.
Haaland will play in Norway's second
Manchester City and Real Madrid played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie at the Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday night.
Arsenal hero Ian Wright has agreed with Pep Guardiola that the volume of games Manchester City have to contend with during the run-in could be a reason for their defensive lapses, such as seen against Crystal Palace.
Phil Foden has broken his silence following Manchester City's 4-2 win over Crystal Palace. The 23-year-old midfielder, who scored a hat-trick against Aston Villa on Wednesday evening, was benched this weekend with Kevin De Bruyne reintroduced to the starting lineup.
Manchester City chose not to risk Josko Gvardiol after the defender picked up a minor injury in the Premier League win over Crystal Palace.
Pep Guardiola says his decision to drop Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland from his line-up against Aston Villa is down to rest purposes only, amid the hectic upcoming schedule Manchester City face.
England striker Ollie Watkins will be unavailable for Aston Villa when they go toe-to-toe with Manchester City in the Premier League on Wednesday night (8.15pm). The 28-year-old picked up an injury in the 2-0 win over Wolves on Saturday afternoon and had to be replaced at half-time.
Manchester City are no longer favourites to win the Premier League title for the first time this season after a goalless draw with Arsenal.
The Premier League has entered its final two months, with nine games left for each of the top three teams - Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City. The title race is tight, with just three points separating first from third place. Squeaky bum time indeed.
Manchester City were forced into an early change in their crucial title fight against Arsenal on Sunday with Nathan Ake being replaced by Rico Lewis after just 25 minutes.
John Stones is a surprise inclusion in the Manchester City squad to face Arsenal, having initially been ruled out of the game by Pep Guardiola on Friday, but the Blues are without goalkeeper Ederson.
Micah Richards believes that if Manchester City are defeated by Arsenal on Sunday, they could concede the Premier League title despite backing his old team to win.
Pep Guardiola is facing the biggest game of Manchester City's season without three of his most valuable defenders available.
England boss Gareth Southgate says the severity of Kyle Walker's injury is currently unknown after the Manchester City defender was forced off in Saturday night's loss to Brazil.
Liverpool attacking trio Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo are the latest injury worries after their 4-3 defeat to Manchester United dented their quadruple hopes.
Manchester City will face Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals, as they learned their route to the final on Friday.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has already confessed he would prefer to avoid Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain in today's Champions League quarter-final draw.
Manchester City have raked in more than €85million from their Champions League run thus far, dwarfing the figures earned by their Premier League rivals.
Injuries have been constant for Newcastle United this season and six players could be absent against Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter final tie on Saturday.
Brazilian football legend Ronaldo has given his prediction for this season's Premier League title winner.
Liverpool may have used Trent Alexander-Arnold's 'it means more' comments as fuel against Manchester City this weekend - but the Blues squad insist the pre-match row played little part in their preparations at Anfield.