Arsenal suffered an injury that could seriously impact their title race after losing the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.
Arsenal continue waiting for silver medal after cup final defeat
Manchester City’s Rodri insists Sunday’s 2-0 win at Wembley was the perfect way to bounce back from being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid and has returned his confidence to challenge for the title.
Asked if the result could affect the title race, the City midfielder said: “A lot, a lot.” “That’s why I said this is not just a fight for the title, this is a fight to show that we can beat them.
“The game in Madrid was quite difficult, but the team bounced back.
“We knew this was a very important game, not only because it’s a cup game, but because we have to play against the best team in the league.”
With a game remaining, City will face the Gunners again in a potentially key Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium on April 19th.
There are currently only two games scheduled by then, but Arsenal have four scheduled, although the postponed game against Crystal Palace still needs to be rescheduled.
“Obviously we didn’t want to be in the Champions League, but we went and now we have to take it positively and we have more time to prepare for the game,” Rodri said.
“There is still a lot of work to do and that needs to be taken into account. But we also need to celebrate this.
“Now I need to take a break and come back for the next international match and be optimistic that I can still play two more games.”
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Arsenal were defeated in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
City had to weather an early storm at Wembley but largely dominated the match and took firm control after the hour with two headers in quick succession from Nico O’Reilly.
“We felt like they were a little down physically and we knew that and wanted to go after them,” Rodri said.
“You know when you have good players in that area and Nico O’Reilly has shown that potential again.”
Arsenal suffer from injury to William Saliba
Arsenal are already without captain Martin Odegaard due to long-term injury, while Julian Timber and Ebelesi Eze will also miss the cup final.
And Mikel Arteta has now been hit with another concern, with William Saliba appearing injured in the final despite playing the full game.
The France international was one of the few Gunners able to hold his own since Sunday, but GOAL reports that he has been removed from the France squad due to “recurrent pain in his left ankle” and will require “immediate treatment” and be out of action for “at least” 10 days.
The extent of the damage is unknown at this point, but Arteta will be hoping that not seeing the 24-year-old struggle for 90 minutes does not worsen the situation.
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Arsenal’s wait for a trophy continues…
