Manchester City face injury crisis ahead of Premier League clash against Arsenal

Former champions Manchester City face an injury crisis ahead of their crunch clash against Arsenal as they are severally short on attacking personnel.

The Cityzens began the season with a very thin squad due to a combination of factors including injury concerns and a few players testing positive for COVID-19. So much so, that they had to call upon several academy youngsters to occupy spots on the bench.

The overall length of their injury list has reduced with the likes of Bernardo Silva, Aymeric Laporte, and Joao Cancelo back in action. However, Pep Guardiola is set to be without three of his star forwards for their game against Arsenal, leaving them light in the final third of the pitch.

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Manchester City's key absentees for Gunners showdown

Manchester City's star strikers Aguero and Jesus

As per Manchester Evening News, Manchester City are set to be without Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, and Raheem Sterling for their game against Arsenal.

The Argentine is still sidelined due to the knee injury he picked up towards the of the last campaign which kept him out of their UEFA Champions League clash against Olympique Lyon. The knee injury saw him miss the last few games of the previous campaign as well as the first few games of the 2020/21 season as well.

Aguero isn't expected to return to action until later in October at the very least.

12 - Sergio Agüero has scored more hat-tricks than any other player in Premier League history (12), overtaking Alan Shearer. Match-ball. pic.twitter.com/V6Ti53cJkz

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 12, 2020

Speaking on his star striker ahead of the season, Manchester City manager Guardiola said;

"We knew that the injury was difficult. He [Sergio Aguero] is doing the job, and in maybe one month or two months he will be ready. Sergio was out for a long time and Sergio is not a guy who regains physical condition quick, so I think in one month or two months he will be ready."

Elsewhere, Gabriel Jesus picked up an injury in Manchester City's campaign opener against Wolves and was sidelined for the next couple of games. Further scans revealed that he would be out for a longer period, which was confirmed by Guardiola.

10 - 10 of Gabriel Jesus' last 14 Premier League goals for Manchester City have come away from home. Travels. pic.twitter.com/RQZKokngiX

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) July 11, 2020

The Manchester City manager explained;

"We don't have Sergio [Aguero], we don't have Gabriel [Jesus]. We have Liam [Delap]. We have many options. Cole Palmer can play as a striker too. We will see. Sergio still hasn't trained and Gabriel was injured against Wolves so he will be out for a month."

Raheem Sterling has deputised for the two injured forwards in their absence but he, too, is currently sidelined with an injury. The English star has had to withdraw from the Three Lions squad but is not expected to be out of action for too long.

However, with Aguero, Jesus, and Sterling unavailable for an important game against Arsenal, it remains to be seen which player ends up leading the line for Manchester City.

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