Garcia injury mars near-perfect day for Manchester City against Arsenal

Eric Garcia was forced off the pitch late on during Manchester City's clash with Arsenal on Wednesday after being taken out by his own team-mate.

With City 2-0 up heading into the last ten minutes of their first game back following the coronavirus-enforced break in the season, Ederson came flying out of his goal to deal with a loose ball.

The Brazilian shot-stopper collided violently with Garcia in the process, leaving the 19-year-old flattened on the ground and unable to continue.

After a lengthy delay, City's medical team strapped the Spanish centre-back into a stretcher and carried him down the tunnel, which left the home side with only ten men on the pitch for the final portion of the game.

After the match, Pep Guardiola revealed that the defender was conscious while adding that he was unsure of the severity of Garcia's injury.

"We are really concerned," Guardiola said, "[Garcia] responded quite well but we have to wait. He is conscious which is a good sign. We will make another test.

"In the beginning it was a lot of energy. Everybody wanted the ball. It was not quiet. We had chances. It was important to score before half time.

"I am happy with the performance of the team. I see in a good shape, the team, which is a good thing for the next few games.

"We have one eye on the next game. Aymeric Laporte was out for a long injury. We have players who play 50, 60 minutes which is good. And can maybe play the next one good."

Guardiola had already used up all five of his substitutions before the incident took place, as he kept his line up fresh throughout the contest staged behind closed doors at Etihad Stadium.

Arsenal were hit with their own injury woes in the first half, with Mikel Arteta left with no choice but to withdraw both Granit Xhaka and Pablo Mari before the 25-minute mark due to respective knocks.

David Luiz came on to replace Mari, and went on to produce a disaster-class of epic proportions which allowed City to take control of the game.

The Brazilian's failure to deal with a Kevin de Bruyne through ball allowed Raheem Sterling to race through and open the scoring just before the interval, and his night got worse when the Gunners came back out for the second half.

Luiz was sent off in the 50th minute of the game after bringing down Riyad Mahrez in the box, and Kevin de Bruyne stepped up to score the resulting penalty kick to put City in a commanding position.

Phil Foden rounded off a 3-0 victory for the reigning Premier League champions in stoppage time, tucking home the rebound after Sergio Aguero was denied by the post following some more great work from Sterling.

The result saw City close the gap on league leaders Liverpool to 22 points with nine fixtures remaining, and increased their lead over third-placed Leicester to seven points.

Arsenal, meanwhile, stay down in ninth after suffering their first defeat of 2020 - having squandered the opportunity to make up some ground on Chelsea in the race for a top-four finish.