MAN CITY LEFT SWEATING ON THE FITNESS OF KEVIN DE BRUYNE AFTER VETERAN STAR WAS TAKEN OFF INJURED AT HALF-TIME AGAINST INTER MILAN... JUST FOUR DAYS BEFORE CRUNCH ARSENAL CLASH

De Bruyne looked to have tweaked a muscle just before half-time in the 0-0 draw
Man City face title rivals Arsenal at the Etihad in a mammoth match on Sunday
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Manchester City are left sweating on Kevin De Bruyne’s availability for the weekend’s heavyweight clash with Arsenal.

De Bruyne pulled up during last night’s goalless draw with Serie A champions Inter before Pep Guardiola withdrew him at half time.

Guardiola revealed that he was planning to substitute the Belgian regardless and is hoping for more clarity on his fitness concerns over the next 48 hours.

Losing De Bruyne would represent a major blow to the Premier League champions in a similar vein to Martin Odegaard’s absence for the Gunners.

‘We’ll assess tonight and I’ll have more information tomorrow,’ Guardiola said. ‘The doctors said to me he wasn’t right to play but I was thinking about changing it at half time anyway.

‘When you are alone and lose easy balls, it’s a counterattack - it’s impossible to stop it. You have to be more precise. It happened especially on the left side with Kevin. We lost the ball without pressure and when that happens they can kill you.’

Rodri made his first start of the season, while Phil Foden has yet to play 90 minutes going into the visit of Arsenal. Guardiola has big selection calls to make over the coming days.

‘I’m really satisfied with how we played,’ Guardiola added. ‘We haven’t reached our top level, we’re not even in October.

‘You can’t expect to create a lot of chances against Inter but we did have clear chances. We played much better than we did in the final two years ago.’

City had not dropped points in a home Champions League group stage game since 2019 but will fancy their chances of progressing to the knockout stages without much fuss.

Inter were left aggrieved that they had to remain in the North West overnight – with manager Simone Inzaghi sarcastically claiming he didn’t realise Manchester Airport ‘closes early’ – and could have snatched victory at the Etihad Stadium.

‘I really thought [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan was going to score, I fell into a state of despair,’ Inzaghi said. ‘I said well done to then, they put in a giant performance. I asked them to play exactly as they did. We all know what City are capable of, particularly at home.

‘We had to pull out all the stops and we did it. We created some really good chances. We probably should have exploited them better. When we work together as a team we make it tough for anyone.’

2024-09-18T22:38:24Z dg43tfdfdgfd