Kovacic in, Walker and Gundogan roles - Three ways Man City can line up after Rodri injury blow

The game against Arsenal at the weekend was full of incidents for both teams. A stoppage time equaliser from John Stones earned Man City a point from the match in the 2-2 draw, but the side were dealt a blow early on.

Influential midfielder Rodri was forced off the pitch after just 21 minutes. He went down clutching his knee, after receiving treatment he was able to walk off the pitch with the help of the City medical staff and was replaced by Mateo Kovacic.

It has since been reported that the Spaniard could face a significant period of time on the sidelines. There are some suggestions that he has suffered an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tear and is set to undergo surgery.

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While that has not been confirmed, if it’s true, it means that he could miss the remainder of the season while he undergoes rehabilitation. The midfielder’s absence poses some dilemmas for Pep Guardiola.

The positive is that the City boss has options at his disposal. Here’s just three ways that Guardiola could line up his team without Rodri for the remainder of the season.

The first option for Guardiola is to bring Kovacic in for Rodri, just as he did when he replaced him in the first half of the match against Arsenal. The Croatian international has featured in every Premier League match so far this season, scoring in the season opener against Chelsea.

If City maintain the 4-3-3 formation picked by Guardiola against Arsenal, then it would be a like-for-like replacement with Kovacic in the middle of a midfield three. He would then