Pep Guardiola delivers Kevin De Bruyne injury update ahead of Man City v Arsenal

Pep Guardiola has said Kevin De Bruyne could be available to face Arsenal on Sunday.

The Manchester City midfielder picked up an injury in Wednesday’s 0-0 draw against Inter Milan and, after sustaining the knock at the end of the first half, De Bruyne was replaced at half-time. As a result he has been a major doubt over recent days.

Speaking after the Inter game, Guardiola said he was unsure as to the severity of the issue. “I don’t know. I didn’t speak with the doctors yet. Assess maybe tomorrow,” he said. “I will have more info tomorrow. The doctor said to me he was not ready to play but I was thinking to change anyway.”

But asked again on Friday about De Bruyne’s available, Guardiola gave a positive update: “He feels a little bit better today but we have not yet had training and we will see. He could be [involved].”

De Bruyne has played in all six games for City this season, starting all four in the league. He also played 180 minutes over two Belgium games earlier this month.

If he’s not available for Sunday’s game, Guardiola could deploy Phil Foden in an attacking midfield role, as was the case on Wednesday, and Guardiola confirmed on Friday that the England international is available to play the full 90 minutes. Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Rodri are also options in the middle.

Elsewhere, City will be without Nathan Ake and Oscar Bobb on Sunday, both of whom are longer-term injuries. As for Arsenal, they will be without Martin Odegaard, Mikel Moreno, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney.