Arsenal set for crucial boost if Man City seal early £65m Antoine Semenyo transfer

Manchester City are working to finalise the £65million signing of Bournemouth winger and self-proclaimed Arsenal supporter Antoine Semenyo

Arsenal could be handed a boost if Antoine Semenyo seals an early January transfer to Manchester City - even if a deal could prove damaging for their Premier League title bid.

The Gunners are not expected to enter the fray for the Ghana international, who would likely feature on their summer shortlist if he was to somehow stay put at the Vitality Stadium until the end of the season.

Nonetheless, City are now pushing to close a deal with Bournemouth as they seek to trigger his £65million release clause that expires on January 10.

The current indications are that City are pressing to close a deal imminently and they want a transfer wrapped up before January 1 to avoid any risk of a potential hijack.

There have been loose rumblings that Liverpool could join the hunt but for now, Pep Guardiola's side remain in pole position.

While City signing Semenyo would undoubtedly come as a blow for Arsenal, in the short-term, it would very much be good news.

That's because the Gunners travel to Bournemouth on Saturday (5:30pm) and it would be incredibly handy if Bournemouth were without their talisman Semenyo.

The 25-year-old is in red-hot form and has now scored in each of his last three Premier League outings after netting in the 4-1 defeat at Brentford last weekend.

Arsenal were well beaten on the South Coast last season when William Saliba was sent off in a 2-0 defeat.

Ryan Christie and Justin Kluivert were both on target for the hosts, who will be striving to execute a similar result and performance against Mikel Arteta's title challengers this weekend.

It's understood Semenyo wants his impending move wrapped up as quickly as possible and that means Tuesday's trip to Chelsea could well be his last outing as a Cherry.

Even if a deal isn't finalised before the weekend, a yellow card against the Blues would see the Ghana international suspended for the match against Arsenal as he would have accumulated five bookings before the conclusion of game-week 19 (the halfway point of the season).

Bournemouth have already devised a shortlist of potential targets in the event that Semenyo departs the club this winter.

Leicester's Abdul Fatawu is among several profiles admired by Andoni Iraola's side but it's hard to envisage them getting a new recruit through the door in time for Saturday's match against Arsenal.

The prospect of Semenyo departing before then is, sadly for Bournemouth, very much realistic.

The Cherries came flying out of the blocks at the beginning of the season but their progress was halted by a number of notable injuries to key players. They currently sit 15th in the Premier League table.