Pep Guardiola confirms major Man City setback in Arsenal Premier League title race boost

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Pep Guardiola has confirmed that Manchester City midfielder Rodri won't be fit until after the September international break after suffering a fresh injury setback at the Club World Cup.

Arsenal finished second in the Premier League last season, one place and three points above City and Rodri's absence helped the Gunners achieve that feat. The Spain international tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament last September and missed most of the 2024/25 campaign before returning in May.

Guardiola's side underperformed in the immediate aftermath when Rodri wasn't available, with City going on a run of just one win in 12 matches. That all-but ended City's hopes of retaining the title for the fifth time in a row, as Liverpool took control and Arsenal, who had injury issues of their own, trailed behind.

After featuring at the Club World Cup, City had hoped to have Rodri fresh and prepared for the 2025/26 season, but the former Atletico Madrid man won't be fit for the start of the campaign.

The Manchester Evening News reported earlier this week that Rodri had been doing individual work since Guardiola's players returned to the City Football Academy for pre-season training.

Rodri took part in City's training sessions on Thursday and Friday but was not included in the squad to travel to Palermo for a friendly this weekend and there are doubts about his fitness going forward.

Guardiola still has hope that the Ballon d'Or winner can feature against Wolves, Tottenham and Brighton in City's opening three league fixtures but does not expect to see the best version of Rodri until September.

"Rodri is getting better but he had a big injury in the last game against Al Hilal. He has trained better in the last few days, hopefully after the international break is when he will be really fit," Guardiola said.

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"Hopefully in these games he can play some minutes but what is important is he doesn't have pain because we don't want this Rodri coming back injured. We try desperately to avoid that. He has been training the last two sessions with us and that's good."

Rodri is one of four City players that have been left at home, with Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol and Claudio Echeverri not fit. City travel to face Wolves in their first top-flight fixture next Saturday.

Both Arsenal and City are set to mount firmer a challenge against Liverpool for the title this season. And having Rodri available and fit is going to give Guardiola's City a better shot, there is no doubt about it.

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