Arsenal take on Manchester City in their third match of the new Premier League season and unless something miraculous happens, the Gunners are going to taste another defeat.
The North London side have lost both their opening matches, first going down to Brentford and then losing against Chelsea on Sunday.
And the kind of form that Manchester City are in, there’s very little chance that Mikel Arteta’s side will be able to stage a comeback next weekend.
To make matters worse, the Gunners will have to play a midweek game against West Brom in the Carabao Cup and they are without six first-team players right now.
The first big miss is Gabriel who is still out after having picked up an injury with the Brazilian national side. He will miss the midweek game and there’s very little chance of him making a comeback against Man City.
Ben White is another player who will miss the trip to the Etihad stadium since he has been diagnosed with COVID.
An official statement from Arsenal said: “Ben tested positive for Covid-19 last week ahead of the Chelsea match and will not be available for Wednesday’s match. Ben’s health and fitness will be continually monitored ahead of the weekend.”
Willian is another player who is recovering from COVID and is likely to be out till the next week while Eddie Nketiah remains on the sidelines with an ankle injury he had picked up during the friendly vs Chelsea.
The statement updated: “Eddie sustained bruising to his right ankle during the friendly match against Chelsea on 1 August.
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“Eddie is working hard with the medical team and is aiming to be back in training in early September.”
Hector Bellerin is going to be another absentee but thankfully Mikel Arteta has plenty of cover in that area of the pitch so the Spaniard’s absence will not be a big problem for him.
Midfielder Thomas Partey is also ruled out and the club have confirmed that he will return to training in the next few days.
The statement said: “Thomas sustained an injury to ligaments in his right ankle during the friendly match against Chelsea on 1 August.
“Thomas is working hard with the medical team and is aiming to be back in training by the end of August.”
Beating Manchester City with a full-strength side is a virtually impossible task for Arsenal so there’s no way they will be able to pull the rabbit out of the hat with so many first-team absentees.
