The injury concerns are piling up for Mikel Arteta within the wake of Sunday’s Carabao Cup final defeat with two more key players pulling out of international duty.
With skipper Martin Odegaard and in-form playmaker Eberechi Eze missing Sunday’s Wembley showpiece, the Arsenal boss can ill-afford to be with none more of his frontline stars heading into the run-in.
There’s an expectation that Odegaard, who has missed the last seven matches in all competitions, will return in time to be in contention for the FA Cup quarter-final against Southampton in a fortnight’s time.
The image on Eze is a ittle less clear, nonetheless, with Arteta revealing after the damaging 2-0 defeat by City that the England star would require an extra scan on calf problem next week.
William Saliba, meanwhile, opted out of the France squad on Sunday with an ankle injury and his central defensive partner in crime, Gabriel Magalhaes, will now miss Brazil’s upcoming games against France and Croatia.
The 28-year-old is alleged to have a knee injury and Arteta will hope the setback just isn’t too serious given his importance to the side.
Leandro Trossard, who has been battling a calf injury of late, may even have a fortnight to recuperate after he withdrew from Belgium’s squad ahead of friendlies with USA and Mexico.
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Arsenal 0-2 Man City – Metro on the Match
Manchester City have secured the primary silverware of the season after Arsenal did not deliver at Wembley.
The quadruple dream is over and the Gunners must now pick up the pieces after a sobering setback.
For City, it has breathed life into their campaign after a dismal Champions League exit this week.
Kepa gamble backfires spectacularly
Mikel Arteta decided to maintain faith in Kepa Arrizabalaga after starting the Spaniard in each round of the competition leading as much as the ultimate at Wembley today.
Pep Guardiola did likewise with James Trafford, however it was Arsenal who paid the value for dropping one in all their best players. From the moment the second-half kicked off, Kepa dallied on the ball, inviting the pressure that will inevitably swarm everywhere in the Gunners and trigger their downfall.
Raya has been spectacular this season, the very best goalkeeper within the Premier League by some margin and in sublime form. Had he began, Sunday can have been a really different story.
Old Arsenal fears reignited
We have now seen Arsenal collapse up to now. Past failures have so often been used as a follow beat them with but things have felt different this season.
Victory today would have gone a way in erasing the lingering fears over one other derailment . But defeat at Wembley could function a catalyst for something much bleaker.
Arsenal are still fighting on three fronts, answerable for the Premier League title race and well-placed to proceed marching on in Europe. But the results of today might be season-altering. The woeful second-half showing was as bad as anything served up by them this term on the stage where they needed to be their best.
O’Reilly steps up
City needed a hero at Wembley and so they found a home-grown one. With Phil Foden only coming on as an injury time substitute, left-back O’Reilly stepped up as City’s savour with two headers to save lots of their season.
City were unbelievable within the second period to a person and fed off Arsenal’s apprehension however it was the 21-year-old set the usual after they needed inspiration.
Tony Mogan, live sports editor
Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice are on account of link up with England next week having been granted every week off by Thomas Tuchel, but Ben White has been added to the Three Lions squad, which also includes Noni Madueke, for the primary time since his decision leave the last World Cup in Qatar early following a fall out with the previous regime.
Arsenal are actually not back in motion until their trip to St Mary’s on April 4 and Arteta will probably be eager to see his side bounce back from missing their probability to finish a six-year trophy drought.
‘It’s hard because everyone as a player really wanted it today and I do know the supporters wanted it,’ said the Arsenal boss.
‘The indisputable fact that we haven’t managed to deliver it is rather, very painful.
‘We’ve had a remarkable eight months together, and now there’s a global break.
‘All of us go into there with a really hard feeling and pain, and we’re going to make use of that as fuel for the following two months.
‘We keep going. It’s painful not to provide them what they’re hoping for and what they’re cheering for, but we’ll recuperate from that and go again.’
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