Manchester City 2, Arsenal 2: Danny Welbeck faces Euro 2016 heartache after suffering another knee injury
Manchester City 2, Arsenal 2
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger fuelled fears that Danny Welbeck could miss Euro 2016 after the England striker suffered another knee injury in Sunday’s drawn top-four showdown at Manchester City.
Welbeck hobbled off with what Wenger provisionally diagnosed as a meniscus problem as the Gunners twice came from behind to stay third in the Premier League, three points ahead of City.
Forwards Olivier Giroud and Alexis Sanchez struck for Arsenal, in response to Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne, but they could not find a winner to fully capitalise on rivals Tottenham’s earlier defeat.
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“I’m worried. We’ll try to be optimistic and wait for the scan,” Wenger said of Welbeck, who only returned from a 10-month lay-off caused by a knee injury in February.
“Danny is a strong boy. At half-time I looked at him and he looked in pain. He has a sign of a meniscus injury. We hope it’s not that. Let’s hope we have good news [on Monday].”
City’s failure to take all three points in manager Manuel Pellegrini’s farewell home fixture means they could yet be pipped to fourth by Manchester United miss out on Champions League qualification.
They looked determined to avoid that prospect when Aguero fired them in front on eight minutes with a low shot that beat Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech at his near post.
Former Gunners defender Gael Clichy almost headed an equaliser into his own net moments later but the visitors levelled from the resulting corner when an unmarked Giroud headed past Joe Hart.
It was the Frenchman’s first league goal since January and he also deftly teed up Sanchez in the 68th minute, after De Bruyne had skidded a 20-yard shot past Cech, for the Chile star slot past Hart.