Arsenal's Premier League title rivals Manchester City have suffered a bitter blow after Antoine Semenyo was ruled out by injury, with Enzo Maresca's side setting the pace in the division

Manchester City have been dealt a substantial blow after winger Antoine Semenyo was ruled out for eight weeks due to injury. The former Bournemouth star has been ruled out until the middle of December and will miss his side's clash with Arsenal next month.

Semenyo started City's first six matches of the Premier League season before featuring for 13 minutes against Ipswich at the weekend, with Enzo Maresca's side earning a maximum 21 points to kickstart the season. Despite the cloud surrounding the club after being found guilty of breaking Premier League financial rules, they have cemented an early three-point advantage over Arsenal.

But Semenyo limped from the field upon the final whistle at the weekend, and the Ghana international is now set for a spell on the sidelines. Though the issue isn't as bad as Maresca first feared.

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“Semenyo will be out for around eight weeks," the Italian coach said. "In the first moment, we expected a worse injury, after yesterday's scan, we will feel better.

"It will be eight weeks, so when he is back in December, it will be like a new player. Not muscular. To lose Antoine, or any player, is not good.

"In terms of Erling, we said we can use Antoine as a 9 but we have different players to try. We will see, at the moment it is Erling, we don't need to think about another one.”

Semenyo has five goal contributions from seven league matches this season, so his absence will be a huge blow for Maresca, with the winger missing some key games.

He is set to miss Premier League matches against Aston Villa, Brighton, Nottingham Forest, Fulham, Leeds, Brentford and Chelsea in addition to Arsenal. Mikel Arteta's men host the current leaders in a crunch clash on November 29th.

The 26-year-old was the worst-affected of five players who left the win over Ipswich with issues. Erling Haaland also limped off the pitch, while Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes and Nico O'Reilly all picked up problems.

Star forward Haaland is, however, in contention to make a return against AEK Athens on Tuesday. "[Erling] can be available," Maresca said in his press conference. "We will see.

"We have a session now. We have some doubts after Saturday's game. He was quite good yesterday, better. The rest are more or less okay."