Kevin De Bruyne has been with Pep Guardiola every step of the way at Manchester City.
The Belgium international arrived in Manchester in 2015, a year before his manager, and has been an integral part of every success under Guardiola.
This season has been a little different. De Bruyne suffered a serious hamstring injury during the opening game of City’s Premier League title defence against Burnley in August 2023. He required surgery and was sidelined for five months.
The 32-year-old returned with a bang as he scored an equaliser and laid on Oscar Bobb’s stoppage-time winner in a sensational cameo against Newcastle United in January. Remarkably, since resuming first-team action, De Bruyne has amassed 11 assists across all competitions. Only Pascal Gross (13), Bukayo Saka and Mohamed Salah (both 12) have more over the course of the whole season among Premier League players.
Unquestionably, he remains as important to City as ever, but Guardiola sought to manage De Bruyne’s minutes immediately before the international break and he was not involved in Belgium’s friendly draws against the Republic of Ireland and England.
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Is Kevin De Bruyne injured?
De Bruyne was substituted 21 minutes from the end of City’s 1-1 draw at Liverpool on March 10 and subsequently sat out the 2-0 FA Cup quarterfinal win over Newcastle with a groin complaint.
“He already played at Anfield with some problems but he’s getting better, just not ready for tomorrow,” Guardiola said on the eve of the Newcastle match. The City boss went on to thank Belgium for allowing the playmaker to sit out the March internationals.
“We spoke with Belgium and I’m grateful because he didn’t feel good. He can recover for the rest of the season,” he added.
Will Kevin De Bruyne play against Arsenal?
City released photos in the week prior to the Arsenal game showing De Bruyne in training with Jack Grealish, who was similarly absent from England duty as he builds fitness following his own groin problems.
ESPN reported that De Bruyne was on course to be fit to face the Gunners after coming through a Tuesday training session with City’s Under-23 squad.
Kevin De Bruyne record vs. Arsenal
One of the reasons Guardiola will be keen to have De Bruyne at his disposal is the player’s fabulous record against Arsenal.
In 14 Premier League appearances against the Gunners, the attacking midfielder has eight goals and four assists. Arsenal are the opponent he has scored most against in his career.
De Bruyne’s solitary Premier League defeat against Mikel Arteta’s team came in his first outing in the fixture for City, a 2-1 loss at Emirates Stadium in December 2015. Since then, he has won 11 and drawn two of his subsequent top-flight involvements.
The most significant of those arguably came in April last year, when two De Bruyne goals and an assist inspired City to a dominant 4-1 victory over Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium that all but secured the Premier League title.
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Man City injury news
Guardiola’s gratefulness to the Belgium national team setup has probably only increased over the course of an international break that has been tough for his players.
He could have major problems in defence against Arsenal after Kyle Walker limped out of England’s loss to Brazil with a hamstring complaint. On Wednesday, Sky Sports News reported Walker was “fifty-fifty” to face Arsenal after sitting out England’s game against Belgium the previous day.
John Stones was replaced during the early stages of that 2-2 draw due to an adductor injury. The centre-back will be assessed by City but is ranked as a major doubt. Fellow defender Manuel Akanji withdrew from Switzerland’s friendly versus the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday having suffered a knock against Denmark.
Grealish is battling to be involved for the first time since suffering the latest setback of an injury-hit season at Luton Town in the FA Cup last month.
Erling Haaland sat out Norway’s 3-3 draw against Scotland after hurting his ankle in training but the striker returned to play 75 minutes against Czechia, albeit having a penalty saved.
