Arsenal and Manchester City fans are bracing every time one of their players goes down as the Premier League title race enters crunch time. With a current four-point gap that has the potential to grow to seven before the two sides face off next week, it is all to play for.
Whereas it is Mikel Arteta's men that have the points in the bank, Pep Guardiola's team are hitting full stride and have won nine of their last ten games in all competitions, scoring 35 goals and conceding just five. With the pressure and expectation of playing in the Champions League as well, City have been hit with some major blows.
Firstly they have been missing Phil Foden of late. The 22-year-old hasn't played since March 11, missing the past three league games as well as both quarter-final games with Bayern Munich. He did return to the bench for the second match in Europe but faces a rush to be match-fit ahead of the title crunch match.
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Meanwhile, it was in Germany that Guardiola received a massive blow. Having gone 1-0 up on the night and 4-0 ahead on aggregate, key defender Nathan Ake pulled up with a hamstring injury that threatens to keep him out for weeks. According to injury expert Dr. Rajpal Brar, who said: "Nathan Ake right hamstring injury. Timeline depends the severity & location of injury (near tendon typically longer).
"Typically grade 1 is 1-2 weeks, grade 2 is 3-6 weeks & grade 3 is 10+ weeks depending on surgery or not. Higher risk for high pace players/positions."
Ake has become integral to Guardiola's four centre-back fluid system of late and would be a huge miss heading into the crucial weeks of the season. Speaking after the game he said: "I've had it before and it feels a little bit less to be honest, but you never know with these things, so we will do the ultrasounds and stuff tomorrow and then hopefully it's not too bad."
Elsewhere it was nearly a double blow for City as Manuel Akanji also went down late in the game. The Swiss defender was able to carry on regardless but nonetheless only went to prove Guardiola's point after the game that his side are physically struggling.
"We are exhausted," he said. "I don't know how we recover to play against Sheffield United [in the FA Cup semi-final]. Now is a tough moment for the game on Saturday."
The fixture schedule means that Arsenal will have an extra day to prepare for the trip up north, though that may be slightly negated by travel time. The Gunners face Southampton on Friday before the big clash with City on Wednesday, April 26.
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