Manchester City have surprised everyone with their lacklustre displays every once in a while. Everyone thought that the December results were just a bad phase and the club would be back to their best soon. However, the loss against Newcastle United came out of nowhere. But Liverpool are just about teasing them by not taking full advantage of the situation as they too dropped points against Leicester City at home. That should give the Mancunians a lot of confidence going into this game, but they need to have a near perfect run from now onwards. Guardiola’s men would look to kickstart things back against Arsenal when they face them at the Etihad.
The Gunners, on the other hand, have managed to slip inside the top four after chasing Chelsea for quite a while. However, this is probably going to be one of the toughest assignment for Emery in his short Arsenal career. But he would definitely be aware that this Manchester City team doesn’t have the same sense of invincibility like the last season. Therefore, the North London club should believe that they can take something away from this tough away game.
Team News
Manchester City
Vincent Kompany is likely to be out of this clash. Ederson had a slight injury scare against the Magpies but the Brazilian has recovered. Benjamin Mendy is close to coming back but he is going to be a major doubt for this game. Apart from that, Guardiola doesn’t have any injury concerns.
Arsenal
Danny Welbeck and Sokratis Papastathopoulos (both ankle), Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding (both knee) remain out of contention for this game. Laurent Koscielny has returned to full training and that would be a significant boost for the manager amidst the injury crisis at the back. Henrikh Mkhitaryan could feature in the matchday squad after recovering from a foot injury.
Predicted lineups
Arsenal Formation: (4-3-1-2)
Leno; Ainsley Maitland Niles, Mustafi, Koscielny, Kolasinac; Torreira, Guendouzi, Xhaka; Ramsey; Aubameyang, Lacazette
Manchester City Formation: (4-3-3)
Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Danilo; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, D. Silva; Sterling, Aguero, Sane
Key Men
Arsenal
Given Arsenal’s vulnerability at the back, we don’t really see them keeping out the Citizens attack. Therefore we would prefer to see Emery going in with both Pierre Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette up front, and the duo can be potential match winners on their day. In midfield, Lucas Torreira will have a tough job of not allowing the likes of David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne run circles around the Arsenal defence.
Manchester City
Leroy Sane is either going to come up against Stephan Lichsteiner or Ainsley Maitland Niles, and that is definitely going to be a significant mismatch given the form that the German winger is in right now. He can have a field day down the right of Arsenal’s defence. Sergio Aguero always carries a major threat up front and he will look to punish Arsenal’s shaky backline.
Odds
Manchester City Win: 2/7
Arsenal Win: 15/2
Draw: 5/1
