Manchester City will welcome Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon as they try to secure another positive result in the Premier League. Pep Guardiola’s men bounced back from their opening weekend loss at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur by picking up a 5-0 win over Norwich City last weekend. In contrast, the Gunners have lost both their league matches but demolished West Bromwich Albion 6-0 in the EFL Cup second round in midweek.
Talking Tactics
Guardiola will stick with his preferred 4-3-3 formation and could ask his players to dominate the ball at the centre of the park and create a few clear-cut chances to win this game convincingly later this month.
Arteta could opt for a 3-4-2-1 formation and will ask his team to keep a solid shape at the back and offer some decent service to their main man, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored a hattrick against the Baggies earlier this week.
Team News
Manchester City
Kevin De Bruyne might not be risked in this game as he is still recovering from a foot injury. Phil Foden is also sidelined because of an ankle problem.
Manchester City Predicted XI
Ederson, Walker, Laporte, Dias, Cancelo, Gundogan, Rodri, Grealish, Jesus, Torres, Sterling
Arsenal
Willian, Gabriel and Ben White are all unlikely to recover in time for this clash. Furthermore, Arteta will be sweating on the fitness of Hector Bellerin, Runarsson and Kieran Tierney as they are all major doubts for this upcoming contest away at Manchester.
Arsenal Predicted XI
Leno, Holding, Mari, Tierney, Chambers, Lokonga, Xhaka, Tavares, Saka, Smith Rowe, Aubameyang
Key Men
Manchester City
Both Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling will carry most of the creative and goal-scoring workload for Man City, especially if Kevin De Bruyne ends up missing out on this game. Both Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias also need to have a good game if they are to stop an in-form Aubameyang from scoring during the 90 minutes.
Arsenal
Bernd Leno can expect a tough afternoon but if he can make a few saves to deny Man City a goal in the first half, Arsenal would be in a good position to steal a result at the Etihad. Aubameyang will once again be Arteta’s best hope for a goal this weekend.
Odds
The bookmakers have priced Man City as the heavy 2/9 favourites to pick up maximum points at home on Saturday. The draw has been priced at 11/2 while the Gunners are 25/2 underdogs to secure a shock victory at the Etihad.
