Manchester City have been handed a huge setback in the Premier League title race after Phil Foden was withdrawn from the England squad to undergo surgery. Pep Guardiola's side are eight points adrift of table-toppers Arsenal, but the reigning champions have a game in hand.
While the Gunners have quite the advantage, the two clubs must lock horns once more this season in what is poised to be a title-defining tie. City are set to welcome the north London outfit to the Etihad Stadium on April 26, however it remains to be seen whether Foden will be available by then or not.
The 22-year-old has been ruled out of Gareth Southgate's squad to face Ukraine at Wembley as the Three Lions look to extend their bright start to the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying campaign. In an official statement from England, Foden had surgery to remove his appendix on Sunday morning.
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The announcement revealed that Southgate has not called up a replacement for the City star, despite Reece James' withdrawal due to injury and Luke Shaw's suspension. Foden has struggled at times this season but, recently, the midfielder has enjoyed a great vein of form.
He's started in each of City's previous four Premier League fixtures, directly contributing towards three goals — Foden has also enjoyed appearances in the FA Cup of late too. Speaking earlier this month, Guardiola revealed the secret behind the the youngster's resurgence in performances.
As quoted by the official City website, the Spaniard said: "Phil has a special ability to have the ball [and think] where is the goal to go there and attack with or without the ball. When I spoke with Phil, after he was having the ball and passing back, he didn’t have the confidence to do it.
"I said to him that is normal. What happened is absolutely what should happen in my opinion. He arrived at 17 training with us, 10 minutes, 15, 20, here, here, national team, World Cup and European Championships, winning titles, and every year he was a little better than the year before.
"Arriving at the moment when you go down, the important thing is to accept it," Guardiola added. "Part of it was a struggle with his ankle, but accept it, don’t blame anyone, the opponents, the manager or the club or team-mates or whatever.
"Accept that you can do better. Come back to your principles. And step by step he will be back. Now he’s back, scoring goals like Riyad. Riyad for the last two months has been one of the most important players.
"He won the game against Spurs. Every action of his created actions for his team-mates, Erling, Kevin and Gundo and everyone. What happened with Phil is completely normal.
"Just accept it. The bad moments, these too shall pass. Always like this in the 90 minutes. Always will come the good moments and we will come back to the game and be ready to do it."
Arsenal also have a number of injuries to contend with. Bukayo Saka was on the receiving end of various flying tackles against Italy, while William Saliba and Eddie Nketiah are recovering from respective knocks.
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