Arsenal handed fresh Premier League title hope as Man City handed four huge injury blows in Real Madrid defeat

Arsenal have been handed a potential Premier League title boost in the form of a series of injury blows suffered by Manchester City. The Gunners crashed out of the Champions League at the quarter-final stage on Wednesday night, losing away to Bayern Munich following a disappointing second leg performance.

But they weren’t the only English side to drop out ahead of the final four, with Real Madrid defeating Manchester City away from home on penalties. Crucially, that second leg clash took a lot out of City, given the game progressed to extra time and, ultimately spot kicks.

Ahead of extra time, Erling Haaland requested a substitution through discomfort, while Kevin De Bruyne clutched his hamstring and needed to be replaced. The Belgian missed five months early in the season with a hamstring issue.

Elsewhere, Manu Akanji also picked up an injury, and Josko Gvardiol was also seen clutching his groin, pointing to an injury. Pep Guardiola said after the game: “Erling and Kevin and Manu asked me to go out. They could not continue.”

City could now be without a number of their key players against Chelsea in their FA Cup semi-final this weekend, against Brighton in the Premier League next Thursday and perhaps even further ahead. That’s all important because Arsenal are currently two points behind City in the Premier League table having slipped up in the title race last weekend.

City now have three games in eight days, with two of those being Premier League fixtures, and there is likely to be a big strain on Guardiola’s squad as they look to end their season with Premier League and FA Cup trophies.