The 30-year-old sustained a significant head injury on Tuesday when she collided heads with Belgian forward Jassina Blom whilst on England duty. The defender was carried off the field after being treated for 12 minutes on the pitch, while Blom continued play with significant head strapping.
Giving an update on her condition ahead of the game, City boss Gareth Taylor said: Its always a concern when you see a player down in distress like that. Of course, no one wants to see that. I spoke to her yesterday and shes very keen to get back into it as soon as she can.
Losing a player like Alex rocked England the other night, their performance as soon as she went off the pitch deteriorated and shes a big player for us. Of course, she won&apost be available for the weekend and well make sure her return to play is managed in the right way. The one thing that&aposs paramount is Alexs health and welfare.
Shes a very brave player, Alex, very determined, so brave in everything she does of course shes frustrated because it means she misses this weekend but shes pretty excited about what weve done this season so far and shes played a big part in that – there&aposs no doubt about that.
Sundays clash could see City lose their current unbeaten streak in the top tier and their top spot in the table rankings in one fell swoop should they come away with a loss at the weekend. But with Arsenal&aposs results lately, the question is can City do more damage to their hosts? The Gunners are seventh in the table, three points behind leaders City.
Its a heavy contrast to the Sky Blues&apos previous campaign, they seem to have put last season&aposs shortcomings behind them and started the WSL season valiantly with four wins and a narrow draw against Chelsea (a phenomenal feat considering Taylor was down to eight players on the field at the point of Chelseas equaliser).
But the results are not the only changes, last season&aposs number one keeper Ellie Roebuck is yet to take to the field in a City shirt, having spent the previous games up in the stands watching on with the fans. Taylor said: Ellie is not in the starting 11 at the moment but she is really well thought of, nothing changes.
Weve been really open and honest with the goalkeepers at the beginning of the season in terms of what we need to do and achieve and what we need the goalkeepers to be able to do in that process.
And at the moment, it&aposs Khiara [Keating].
Ellies responded really well, really professional, she&aposs training well and supporting Khiara and Sandy [McIver] really well. And of course, Ellie and Sandy are working tremendously hard to try and force their way in.
Goalkeeper changes aside, Taylor has been beating the same drum about consistency being key when it comes to performances and success, but the weekends hosts are suffering there, uncharacteristically. Its been a turbulent start of the season for Jonas Eidevalls side, they lost their opening game to Liverpool, drew with Manchester United and pulled two victories over Aston Villa and Bristol City in the top-flight after losing out on Champions League football on penalties in early September.
Despite Arsenal&aposs results or form of late, be it anyone&aposs in the league Taylor said abruptly: Every game is a big game. There are no small games in this league. Every game is a big one.
That rings true with the shock results this season already however emphasised by the long history between these two WSL giants. They have gone head to head 13 times in the league, City have won six, drawn once and lost six games having put an 18-goal tally beyond the Gunners whilst the weekends hosts have scored 19.
Last season City won 2-1 at the Joie Stadium but then lost 2-1 in the reverse tie two months later, it looks to be a juicy meet-up for both sides for City to protect their unbeaten record and for Arsenal to climb up the table rankings.
Manchester City make the trip south on Sunday, November 5, kicking off at 12.30pm and is available to watch via BBC Two.
The transfer window has been a hectic one and City have been busy, with high-profile signings and sales aplenty.
City snapped up Croatian pair Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol from Chelsea and RB Leipzig respectively with the latest addition being Jeremy Doku. Wolves&apos Matheus Nunes then joined the Blues on deadline day. In terms of outgoings, Treble winner Ilkay Gundogan departed for Barcelona, Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez moved to Saudi Arabia, and Cole Palmer completed a shock move to Chelsea.
Our team of City experts will be on top of all the goings-on at the Etihad across deadline day and beyond, and you can get the latest updates and inside information to your phone by joining our new free WhatsApp community below.
