Manchester City will be sweating over the fitness of star midfielder Rodri after he was forced off in the first half of Sunday's Premier League showdown with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.

After playing the full 90 minutes in City's 0-0 Champions League draw with Inter Milan on Wednesday, Rodri was handed another start in the engine room for the Citizens alongside Ilkay Gundogan for the clash with Mikel Arteta's Arsenal.

Immediately from kickoff, Rodri hit the deck clutching his face after a collision from the on-running Kai Havertz, but the Spaniard was fit to continue after receiving treatment.

However, Man City's No.16 went down again - around 10 minutes after Erling Haaland opened the scoring for the hosts with his 100th goal for the club - following an innocuous coming-together with Thomas Partey at a corner.

Rodri ran towards the near post and a shoulder-to-shoulder nudge between himself and Partey resulted in the former jarring his knee whilst running, before he stayed down for some time receiving treatment.

The stretcher was carried out on the touchline, but Rodri managed to get to his feet and limped off with the support of two Man City medics, making it slightly more encouraging for Citizens supporters than it had initially looked.

Mateo Kovacic came on as Rodri's replacement and just moments later, Arsenal equalised thanks to a stunning side-footed strike from Riccardo Calafiori on his first Premier League start.

Arsenal have since taken the lead thanks to Gabriel Magalhaes, who has scored for the second successive game to give the Gunners a 2-1 advantage at half time at the Etihad, but they will have to play the second half with 10 men as Leandro Trossard has received two yellow cards - the first for a shirt pull on Savinho and the second for kicking the ball away after barging into the back of Bernardo Silva.

Man City will hope that Rodri's injury is not a severe one, with four games in 12 days to prepare for across three different competitions before the next international break.

Pep Guardiola's side face Watford in the EFL Cup third round on Tuesday night - a game Rodri would not be expected to play in anyway - before facing Newcastle United, Slovan Bratislava (Champions League) and Fulham.