Man City suffer Kyle Walker blow ahead of Arsenal showdown
Premier League champions Manchester City have been handed an alarming injury scare with Kyle Walker ahead of their top-of-the-table showdown with Arsenal on March 31.
The right-back captained England in their friendly encounter with Brazil at Wembley on Saturday evening, where Endrick’s 80th-minute strike propelled the Selecao to a 1-0 victory.
However, Walker had already been off the field for over an hour by the time that the Real Madrid-bound teenager settled the tie, having sustained an injury in the first 20 minutes of the match.
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The 33-year-old had sprinted back to intercept Vinicius Junior’s goal-bound strike in the 12th minute, just a couple of moments before dropping to the turf with an apparent hamstring concern.
Walker initially tried to play through the pain, but he ultimately had to call it quits a few minutes later and was substituted for Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa, making his senior debut for his country.
England head coach Gareth Southgate was inevitably asked about the nature of Walker’s injury after the game, and while he was still none the wiser, he admitted that the defender is not the sort of player to come off unless something is wrong.
“We don’t know yet. He is feeling something but he is not a player who is injured very often so he’s not quite certain what it is. So it is something we have to assess in the coming days,” Southgate told the media.
While England wait to learn whether Walker will be available for Tuesday’s showdown with Belgium at Wembley, his early substitution is sure to cause concern among Man City fans for the return of domestic football next weekend.
The former Tottenham Hotspur man’s participation in the visit of Arsenal on Easter Sunday has now been plunged into doubt owing to his early withdrawal on Saturday, where he donned the captain’s armband for England in Harry Kane’s absence.
After rejecting the chance to move to Bayern Munich in the summer transfer window, Walker has been an integral figure once again for Pep Guardiola this season, setting up three goals in 38 games in all tournaments.
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Following Guardiola’s blunt admission last year that Walker could not play as a right-back in his new system, the 33-year-old has risen to the challenge to start 25 Premier League games for the Citizens this season.
Should Walker indeed miss the visit of league leaders Arsenal on March 31, either Rico Lewis or John Stones could be asked to fill in at right-back for Man City, who already have Ederson, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish in the treatment room.
Man City sit two places and one point behind Arsenal in the Premier League table and also have a deficit of one to make up to second-placed Liverpool, who are below the Gunners on goal difference.