When Arsenal kick off against Leeds United at 3pm on Saturday afternoon, the Gunners will know how well Man City have fared against Liverpool, and whether Erling Haaland has made an unlikely appearance in the game.
Currently eight points clear at the top, albeit Man City have a game in hand over the north Londoners, should Liverpool triumph or City only earn a draw then Mikel Arteta’s side could extend their lead at the summit.
It’s clear to all how important Haaland has been to Pep Guardiola’s side. According to BBC Sport, he already has 28 goals in 26 English top-flight games this season.
However, by Thursday morning, the striker still wasn’t back in training, and as his father, Alf-Inge Haaland, already noted a week ago, no training would make it difficult for his son to walk straight back into the side.
“Manchester City has a partnership with a hospital in Barcelona so he has been there for further checks and treatment,” he was quoted as saying on TV2 (quotes supplied by Liverpool ECHO).
“Now he has been here [Marbella] for a couple of days with the physio from the club. Firstly, I’m not a doctor and secondly, I think it’s ‘touch and go’, yes. You can’t just go two weeks without training and then jump right into a fight. There must be a progression there.
“They can gamble on it, but if he doesn’t get proper training with the team, then he won’t play. It is about how he responds to treatment in the next few days. He needs a lot of care and ‘knuckling’. There are many sprints and there is a lot to move.”
The injury that Haaland sustained has also come at the worst possible time of the season as Pep Guardiola can ill afford for the target man to have a relapse.
The business end of the campaign is precisely the time when City will be wanting to put maximum pressure on Arsenal in the hope that they can be reeled in by the end of the campaign.
With 12 matches still left to play, it’ll only take one or two reverses for the Gunners to really start to feel City breathing down their necks.