Kevin De Bruyne was ruled out of Sunday’s early Premier League title tussle between Manchester City and Arsenal with an apparent groin injury.
Pep Guardiola told Sky Sports the injury isn’t a “big one” but that he couldn’t recover in time for the blockbuster fixture at the Etihad.
Ilkay Gundogan replaced De Bruyne in Guardiola’s lineup, with Jack Grealish dropping to the bench after starting in City’s midweek Champions League draw with Inter Milan.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta also dropped Ben White to give €45-million summer signing Riccardo Calafiori his first Premier League start.
Manchester City (4-2-3-1)
Ederson; Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Josko Gvardiol; Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan; Savinho, Bernardo Silva, Jeremy Doku; Erling Haaland
Arsenal (4-4-2)
David Raya; Jurrien Timber; William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Riccardo Calafiori; Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey, Declan Rice, Gabriel Martinelli; Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard