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Samir Nasri was a surprising omission from the squad that faced Arsenal at Etihad stadium.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini, unsurprisingly, faced a lot of questions regarding the omission of the French midfielder, who has been in fine form in recent weeks. Pellegrini initially refused to reveal any details behindNasri’s omission. It was widely suggested thatNasri was left out of the squad since it was against his former club Arsenal. Now, though, the manager claims that the French midfielder was left out due to injury concerns.

Nasri lost his place in the first team ever since Pellegrini has been the manager. Despite his undoubted talent, he has been unable to replicate his early form at the club. He has struggled with inconsistency especially in the last 12 months. In the 2015-16 campaign, he has made only eight appearances in all competitions, although this has a lot to do with injury rather than poor form. Still, his appearance record has dropped alarmingly since he joined the club in the 2011-12 campaign. It remains to be seen if he will remain part of the City squad when Pep Guardiola comes to the club in the summer. The Spaniard is expected to bring in a lot of changes to almost every aspect.

“For different reasons, Samir Nasri didn’t work the complete week so he was not able to take his place on the bench. It doesn’t matter in this moment. I try to choose the players I think are in the best moment for this game and for different reasons I think that was not the case with Samir.He is not injured. No, it was not tactical. He was sick [for] two days during the week so was not able to play,” said Pellegrini. Nasri is expected to miss the upcoming Champions League game against Real Madrid as well.