Manchester City are in the midst of their own defensive injury crisis after setbacks for Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias on Sunday.
Arsenal have had plenty of issues with injuries to defenders in recent months, with Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba, Piero Hincapie, Ben White, Jurrien Timber, Riccardo Calafiori, and Cristhian Mosquera all spending at least some time on the sidelines.
Calafiori and Mosquera remain absent at the time of writing, and from the above list of players only Timber has missed fewer than four of the first 20 Premier League matches.
Now, it seems Arsenal’s title rivals Manchester City are heading for a defensive injury crisis of their own, following weekend setbacks to Josko Gvardiol and Ruben Dias.
At the time, Gvardiol’s injury looked the more serious, with the centre-back hobbling off the pitch in the 51st minute of City’s draw with Chelsea and seemingly unable to put weight on his left ankle.
It has now been confirmed that he suffered a fractured tibia and will undergo surgery. It’s not clear how long he will be sidelined, but there must now also be a question mark over his availability for the World Cup this summer.
As for Dias, the centre-back withdrew from the contest in the 81st minute with an apparent muscle concern. Though with City winning the game 1-0 at that moment, it’s hard to know for sure whether the problem was genuine or a case of running down the clock.
Pep Guardiola didn’t seem particularly positive about either player in his post-match interview.
“We’ll see but it doesn’t look good,” Guardiola said (via The Telegraph and The Standard). “[Gvardiol] and Ruben, we’ll see what happens.
“[With Gvardiol], apparently, it doesn’t look good. We will see tomorrow. I think he will be on the sidelines for a few weeks.
“With Ruben it looks like muscle. I didn’t speak to the doctor but if Ruben is out it’s because he felt something.”
Guardiola was then quick to point out that these aren’t City’s only defensive injuries, with John Stones already out of action and Nathan Ake’s fitness a perpetual concern.
“We have a lot,” Guardiola said. “John Stones is missing for I don’t know how many months. Ruben now will be out, Josko will be out. Nathan, always we know with Nathan he cannot play regularly.”
In terms of City’s next game against Brighton on Wednesday, it looks likely Abdukodir Khusanov and Ake will be starting together, unless Dias’ problem turns out to be nothing serious.
But if Dias is out for a while and Guardiola is right that Ake can’t play regularly, it becomes a real issue for him.
On the possibility of a new signing, Guardiola added: “I don’t think so but we’ll see what happens because I know Ruben is a big loss and Josko is a big loss.”