Worrying Rodri statistic emerges ahead of Arsenal vs Manchester City

Arsenal look to have been handed a boost as they prepare to face off with Manchester City this coming weekend.

Rodri was sent off on September 23 as Manchester City beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 in a Premier League clash.

The Spaniard is out for three games as a result. He missed City’s shock third round League Cup exit to Newcastle on September 27 and was also out of action this past Saturday when the Sky Blues took on Wolves.

Manchester City dominated the tie having 23 shots and eight on target compared to Wolves’ three shots and one on target.

However, an own goal from Ruben Dias and a 66th-minute strike from Hwang Hee-chan cancelled out Julian Alvarez’s goal to hand City their first Premier League loss of the season.

Following Saturday’s game, it was revealed that since Rodri made his Premier League debut in August 2019, Man City have lost five out of 15 matches without the Spaniard in the competition but by contrast, they have lost just five of their last 67 league games when Rodri has featured (W53 D9).

This is not good news for Man City as their next Premier League outing comes vs title rivals Arsenal on Sunday. Should City fail to pick up the win, they could lose top spot in the PL.

Arsenal can be backed at 9/5 with bet365 to beat Man City, who themselves are priced at 29/20 to pick up three points.

In explaining what went wrong vs Wolves, Pep Guardiola - who was banned from the touchline - said: “We had our moments and not counting the last 10, 15 mins, because it was more difficult. We didn’t do properly our process, to attack with a little bit more fluidity and that’s why we struggled a little bit.

“In transitions, [Pedro] Neto was better than us, they beat us in that situation not because we were disorganised, we were in a position to defend well but a difficult game to play, they defend really well.

“When they defended that well and Kovacic and Ruben had to attack central defenders of their opponents and they didn’t do it, that’s why it was more difficult.”

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