Manchester City will entertain Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium this Friday night as they look to earn a positive result at home in the fourth round of the FA Cup. The Mancunian club managed to earn a 3-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers recently which will keep them in high spirits ahead of this game.
Pep Guardiola will set his side up in a 4-3-3 formation and is expected to name a strong first XI for this game. Erling Haaland scored a hattrick last weekend, so Guardiola will name him as his centre-forward once again later this week. In goal, Stefan Ortega will function in between the sticks for the Mancunian club while Ederson gets a rest on the bench.
4-3-3 Manchester City Predicted Lineup To Face Arsenal
Defence
Stefan Ortega will operate in between the sticks for Man City as he looks to secure a clean sheet at home. Ortega’s inclusion means that Ederson will be rested on the bench. Manuel Akanji will operate alongside Ruben Dias at the heart of Guardiola’s defence as they look to keep things solid at the back during the 90 minutes.
Kyle Walker will fill in at right-back while Nathan Ake hopes to impress on the other flank as the left-back. Both of them will get the license to get forward and join in on the attack so that they can offer some decent support to the front players.
John Stones and Aymeric Laporte will have to settle for a spot on the bench as they provide cover for the centre-half positions.
Midfield
Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri and Bernardo Silva will make up Man City’s midfield as they look to give a good account of themselves at the centre of the park and engineer enough chances for their team to win this FA Cup clash at home.
Kalvin Phillips and Ilkay Gundogan will have to settle for a spot on the bench as they await their chance to shine in the second 45 minutes if required.
Attack
Julian Alvarez will play as the left-sided wide player while Riyad Mahrez hopes to weave his magic from the right flank. Mahrez is enjoying a decent run of form of late and would be a constant menace in the final third.
Erling Haaland will act as the spearhead of Man City’s attack following his recent hattrick versus Wolves in the Premier League. The Norwegian striker will carry most of the goal-scoring workload for the Mancunian giants on the attacking end of the pitch.
