Manchester City midfielder Rodri sustained a knee injury in Sunday’s game against Arsenal that will all but rule him out for the rest of the season.
The Spanish midfielder was substituted after 20 minutes when he went down after a shove from Thomas Partey. Rodri was unable to continue the game and was replaced by Mateo Kovacic.
Goals from Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel were enough to seal a point for Arsenal. Controversy surrounded the game, with referee Michael Oliver being in the news after the final whistle.
Oliver sent off Leandro Trossard for kicking a ball away after a foul on Bernardo Silva. This was the second time this season an Arsenal player has been sent off for kicking the ball away, the first being Declan Rice at Brighton.
What Robbie Savage said about Rodri
Robbie Savage and Chris Sutton discussed the impact of Rodri’s injury after Sundays game on BBC 606.
“I don’t think anyone in the world other than you would say that Rodri would chuck one in, he’s had a decent career so far,” Sutton said.
“He has, but he wasn’t up to speed today,” The caller said.
“Rodri would be Arsenal’s best player,” Savage said.
Pep Guardiola will now have to find a replacement for the midfielder who played almost every game for Manchester City last season, and won EURO 2024 with Spain this summer.
The Gunners will also be challenging their rivals, who will be without Rodri, who was a key player in their title run last season.
Arsenal were the winners on Sunday – Reo-Coker
Former Aston Villa midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker believes arsenal came out of Sunday’s clash with mostly positives:
“When you look at Arsenal play, there’s a great unity and atmosphere that Mikel Arteta has created and a great culture he’s setting.
“They were without their most influential and creative player in Martin Odegaard, so to be minutes away from pulling out an amazing result but still coming out with a point, with the team you’re probably going to be competing the most against, they’ve got a tremendous amount of positives.
“If you look at the reaction after the game, they really still believe and they know they’re in this title race with a lot of twists and turns to come as the season progresses.”
The Gunners have played the last three games without Martin Odegaard, and had Declan Rice suspended at one point, but ended the week unbeaten. This shows the resiliency of Arsenal, and backs up the words of Mikel Areta, who said his team have something to prove this season.
