I think Arsenal has a better chance of beating Manchester City in their Premier League match on Sunday at Etihad Stadium. Three Manchester City players were injured while on international duty for England, and there are doubts about being ready for the Arsenal match. This will be an advantage for Arsenal. Arsenal will dominate most of that match because John Stones and Kyle Walker are among the injured Manchester City players.
This is where the squad dept we are always taking about have to come in. Manchester City has lots of players to fill in the space of the injured players. City played has been playing for long without John Stones for earlier part of the season and I know Guardiola will make adjustments to his squad. If Rodri was the player that was injured I would have been worried. Yes the absence of the players will show on the squad but it's not a criteria to judge that Arsenal will win at the Etihad stadium. Manchester City know what is at stake in this game and they can't lose it.
Even if Manchester City has a good squad dept you cannot compare first-team players to second-team players. For instance, when Kevin De Bruyne was injured, Manchester City was struggling to win their matches. But when Kevin De Bruyne returned from injury, Manchester City's performance improved, and they started winning matches easily.
It's unclear whether DeBruyne sustained serious or minor injuries. I was reading in the latest article that he has been slowly recovering and that he is expected to return to the game against Arsenal soon. De Bruyne's contribution was comparable to Haaland's. Even Haaland would be unable to score many goals without his assistance.
It means that if these players make the most significant contribution to the club. I appreciate how de Bruyne played as if he was in charge of the club's gameplay. Without a doubt, he has been referred to as the "King of Assistance" due to his significant contributions.
Even as he recovered from his injury, he continued to score goals and assist his teammates. In such a short period of time, he has made an unbelievable impact. No doubt Pep has advised him to retire at Manchester City rather than leaving the club.
I agree that the secondary team will have lower quality than the primary team, but never underestimate it. Liverpool has demonstrated that a secondary squad can perform just as well as the main squad.