Man City and Pep Guardiola may have just received a major blow in their hope of defending their Premier League title as John Stones has been forced off during England’s friendly with Belgium.
The defender left the field of play after just eight minutes as he seemed to pick up the knock while in possession and needed to be replaced almost immediately by Joe Gomez, reports The Mirror.
This comes just days before Man City’s crucial Premier League clash with Arsenal at the Etihad on Sunday and the result of that game could have huge ramifications as to where the title will end up this season.
Guardiola has received a lot of bad news on the injury front during the current international break and this latest one is a major blow.
This March international break comes at a horrible time for clubs and Man City have been hit hard this time around.
Man City have multiple injury issues ahead of Arsenal clash
In addition to Stones, the fitness of Kyle Walker is a huge concern ahead of the weekend as the right-back came off during England’s defeat to Brazil on Saturday and has since returned to Man City. The extent of the defender’s injury has not yet been revealed but it looks like the player will be out for some time.
Manuel Akanji also seems to have picked up an issue as Switzerland boss Murat Yakin revealed on Monday that the Manchester City star had picked up a knock and that the 28-year-old defender will play no part in the Ireland match on Tuesday, reports The Irish Independent.
All three of these setbacks have come in defence and that will encourage an Arsenal team who are scoring goals for fun of late ahead of the weekend, should all these players not feature for City at the Etihad on Sunday.
I hope and pray all these news are true so that Arsenal can capitalize on the their defence problem to earn the necessary win.