Man City Without Stones And Walker For Crunch Encounter Against Arsenal

The pair picked up injuries on national team duty with England during the recent international break.

Walker limped off early with a hamstring problem in England's 1-0 defeat to Brazil while Stones suffered an adductor issue in a 2-2 draw with Belgium.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola however delivered some positive news on the injury front, with goalkeeper Ederson making a quicker-than-expected recovery to put himself in the frame for the big game.

Ederson went off injured in the 1-1 draw at Liverpool and missed Brazil's recent friendly games as a result.

Manchester City are currently third on the Premier League table, one point behind leaders Arsenal.

“Ederson is much better but Kyle and John are out,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference. “It is what it is.

“For Kyle it will be more tougher than John (in terms of recovery), but I don’t know for how many games he will be out.”

Asked if he was surprised that Stones had started both England friendlies, Guardiola would only say: “I don’t have any comments on that.”