Arsenal and Manchester City will both be without a number of key players for their huge Premier League clash on Sunday. Pep Guardiola's side saw their 100 percent winning start to the season come to an end on Wednesday after failing to break down a resolute Inter defence, with the Gunners also drawing a blank against Italian opposition.

Mikel Arteta and his players travelled to Bergamo for a European encounter against Atalanta on Thursday evening. In a game of limited chances, David Raya was the hero after he saved a Mateo Retegui penalty and then expertly clawed away the rebound.

After missing the North London Derby win over Tottenham, Martin Odegaard was again absent with the ankle injury picked up on international duty. Arteta was able to provide an update on his condition earlier in the week, with his verdict making it sound as though he will be missing for some time.

"The scans showed that he’s got some damage, especially on one of the ligaments in the ankle," he revealed earlier this week. "I don’t want to do that [give a return timeline] because I’m not a doctor. But it’s something quite significant, so we’re going to lose him for a while. Hopefully not months, but let’s see." 

With Arsenal's creative talisman set to be absent, City could be facing a similar scenario. In the clash against Inter, Kevin De Bruyne went off with an injury, and while Guardiola did not rule him out of the weekend, his update was not very promising.

"He feels a little bit better today, but we have not yet had training, and we will see," he said in a press conference ahead of the game. "He could be involved." Thankfully for City, Phil Foden is back to full fitness and is more than capable of playing in that role if De Bruyne is unable to make the clash.

In terms of other notable absentees, Mikel Merino and Takehiro Tomiyasuare are both still injured, despite hopes the Spain international could be closer to making his debut. Like Odegaard, Nathan Ake also picked up an injury while in action for his country and is expected to remain out for the next few weeks at the very least.

Oleksandr Zinchenko and Oscar Bobb are also among those missing, with Kieran Tierney yet to feature this season after getting injured over the summer at Euro 2024. Savinho was replaced at halftime during City's midweek Champions League clash against Inter Milan, although Guardiola suggested that was more to do with tactics than injury.

In all, nine players could be absent across both teams, with De Bruyne a major doubt to feature.