The fans at the Emirates can definitely celebrate as Manchester City’s midfield maestro Kevin De Bruyne was reported to have missed training session on Tuesday ahead of their Premier League clash with Tottenham on Thursday evening.
There is no doubt that the Etihad side are more dangerous with the Belgian at the centre of their midfield dictating their game.
And as Pep Guardiola and his side are looking to get back on track to enable them keep pace with leaders Arsenal following their 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday, it will however delight the Gunners fans if De Bruyne ends up missing the tie as that could help work against City.
The result at Old Trafford has left City eight points behind Arsenal, who sealed an impressive 2-0 win over Tottenham on Sunday.
City trained on Tuesday morning ahead of their match against Antonio Conte’s side but De Bruyne was missing from the session
However, both John Stones and Ruben Dias, who missed the derby defeat to United, were part of City’s training on Tuesday.
Dias has not featured for City since Portugal’s World Cup campaign in December due to a hamstring injury.
Meanwhile, Guardiola admits City need to find a way to get Erling Haaland more involved after the Premier League’s top scorer this season struggled to make an impact against United.
‘At the moment we have that process because when teams are sat in their 18-yard box, it is more difficult but we have to find him a little bit more, yes,’ Guardiola said.
‘[Against United] he had enough touches but it’s true that when you are looking at areas and you have to look at him. But we will do it.’