Arsenal handed Premier League title race twist as key player banned for Man City clash

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Arsenal have been handed a potential blow to their hopes of securing a swift Premier League title triumph with a huge decision made impacting Manchester City

Arsenal's Premier League title rivals Manchester City will not have to worry about Enzo Fernandez in their clash with Chelsea next weekend. Liam Rosenior confirmed on Friday that he will be not available for the Blues' next two matches after recent comments speaking out against the club and fuelling transfer links to Real Madrid.

When asked about Fernandez, Rosenior said: "We spoke with Enzo an hour ago. As a football club, with me as part of that process, we've made a decision. He won't be available for tomorrow's game and he won't be available for Manchester City on Sunday.

"I think for Enzo, it's disappointing to speak in that way. What I will say about Enzo is in terms of him as a character, as a person, I've got no bad words to say about him. But I think a line was crossed in terms of our culture and what we want to build. So we had to make a sanction and that was a decision we've made."

The internal ban will see Fernandez miss an FA Cup quarter-final against Port Vale and next Sunday's game against Pep Guardiola's side, which takes place roughly 30 hours after the Gunners' match against Bournemouth.

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Fernandez was the City villain in the reverse fixture as he scored a last-minute equaliser at Etihad Stadium just a few weeks before Rosenior's arrival.

The Argentine not being available for selection leaves Chelsea somewhat light in midfield with captain Reece James a doubt for that clash as he recovers from a hamstring injury. No Fernandez is certainly a positive for Guardiola and Co. and thus dents Mikel Arteta's hopes that Chelsea will take points off their title rivals.

Before worrying about that, Arteta has games against Southampton and Sporting CP to prepare for. Work towards those knockout ties continued on Friday with 12 senior stars absent after a brutal international break.

Noni Madueke and Piero Hincapie suffered their injury problems over that two-week domestic pause with Eberechi Eze joining them in being confirmed absentees for the trip to Southampton.

Arteta has confirmed that Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber are back in contention however. The Arsenal boss did keep his cards close to his chest regarding Leandro Trossard, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba and Martin Zubimendi though, who all withdrew from international duty early.

He said on Friday: "You will see. I continue the speculation so you can do it, and you can judge it afterwards. If what I said was right or do I have to maybe change and delete and write something else?"

It was not a disastrous international break for all Arsenal stars with Viktor Gyokeres key to Sweden qualifying for this summer's World Cup. Myles Lewis-Skelly also got some much-needed minutes for England under-21s while Max Dowman scoring and grabbing two assists for the age group below.

Ben White was another that played for his country over the last week with his controversial return to England duty generating a mixed reception.