There is no doubt that Manchester City are the most outstanding team in the Premier League at the moment, and have been brilliant for a lot longer than that. They are currently on an amazing run of a 10-game winning streak that has sent them 8 points clear at the top of the table.
It is also a fact that Arsenal are on an awful run of form against the League Champions, having lost our last 9 League games in a row against the Cityzens.
We have also lost our last 6 League games at the Emirates against them in a row as well, which is quite grim stats I agree, but we did have the satisfaction of beating them in the semifinals of both our last two FA Cup wins.
But games during the Xmas schedule are not so easy to predict, and with City having just had a narrow win 2 days ago at Brentford, they will not have had time for all their players to recover, whereas the Gunners have had a full week to rest after our destruction of Norwich and can probably field our very best team. This is the first cause for hope in my heart.
Secondly, historically Arsenal have played 7 home games on New Years Day in the Premier League era, and we have won every single one, which is very encouraging. In fact the last time we lost a home game on New Years was back in 1985.
Thirdly, with the crowds allowed back in stadiums again, Arsenal have turned the Emirates into a fortress, and we have only lost one game against Chelsea right at the beginning of the season, and in fact have won our last 5 home matches in a row.
These may seem like glimmers of hope to some Arsenal fans, but then again, when was the last time we felt tht we had any chance at all against Pep Guardiola’s team?
I will even go one step further and cite another stat, which is that Arsenal have scored 598 goals since the Premier League started so I am going to say we will get those two goals tomorrow to make it an even 600 before the New Year…
2-0 or 2-1 to the Gunners I predict!
COYG!
JA Statman
Sorry , this is new year, not a Boxing day match…..
Well spotted. I do however think we have the opportunity to turn the tide against the top four, unless Arteta remains tone deaf. Arsenal have to be adventurous and play their hearts out. Press hard and counterattack devastatingly. We did it against the Galacticos of Madrid more than a decade ago. We have seen lesser EPL teams frustrate the likes of Man City and Liverpool. It is down to how we approach, set up and go about the game. It is a mental block we have to break down. We can do it if we believe we can. Convincing ourselves that they will inevitably have more of the ball is already preparation to lose heavily once again. We have to think like a lesser team with nothing to lose and go straight for the jugular.
Yes. I fully agree, mentality is the major issue here otherwise they can be beat easily.
Boxing Day? It’s Jan 1st tomorrow…
There is no reason why Arsenal cant beat MC provided the match officials including var do their job efficiently
The stamp on the Japs face plus countless incidents not punished.
Btw,Arsenal could be playing against 12 to 14 guys
Looks like you have a crystal ball at home
I will only be confident if Arteta is around to bark at his attackers
I’m worried Lacazette and Odegaard reduce their pressures too soon, because Man City’s build-up play from their penalty box is almost perfect and they could bypass Liverpool’s/ Chelsea’s high presses easily
I am also worried that Arteta will not be available to stire the players up. Hence, I am not too optimistic. Let’s see what the assistant coach would offer 2moro. It will not be nice to lose on new year day. Hope the players give their best to at least get a draw. I also feel the players should not be conservative in their approach but also not be too ambitious we can’t beat ManCity at what they do best. 10 games winning streak is not a fluke.
Aside from that, our players got battered in Manchester a few months ago and Arteta never won against Man City as a player at the Emirates, so the fear factor must’ve still existed
If the likes of Crystal Palace have beaten City, how much more Arsenal. The players themselves have to believe they can beat them and they will
Big mistake. So called lesser teams take points from city and Liverpool every season but that doesn’t stop us from getting a beating. Lower your expectations. At best arsenal will get a draw. Experience says we will get embarrassed.
It’s all about mentality. Concentration and matching the off the ball running of the Man City players is a must if we are to get the 3 points.Hard work alone of course will not get us a result, but thankfully we have talented attacking players ,principally Saka and Martinelli who can hurt City .I only hope Tomi is fit to mark Foden or Grealish as I would not back Cedric against either.Perhaps White will be used at RB with Holding at CB.Personally I would settle for a draw.
Grandad Who wouldn’t against City if they score early God help us
We need to keep Saka n Martinelli at half line mark that will stop City having 10 players in our half for 90 minutes if we are clever the most that they will have in our half will be 7 and we will have 2 players to break fast
Please dont start moaning like widows if we dont win the best football team in the world.
Happy New Year fellow Gooners
We don’t have to moarn, I have trust in our current squad.
keep dreaming we all know when it’s comes to playing against top teams arsenal is an ass hole their form decrease drastically when playing against the top teams
An ass hole is someone who gives up before the game is even played…
Yay!
The only reason we have a serious chance will be fatigue. They are miles ahead in every aspect but in a one-off game, you never know.
As usual I just want us to turn up and put in a good performance. No shame in losing to anyone if we do that, least of all City
I’m looking forward to the game as I always do, win lose or draw looking forward to watching the Arsenal again
We are 4th going into the new year and that’s probably better than a lot of supporters would have predicted at the start of the season and particularly after the first three matches
All credit to Arteta and the players for that, even if we lose and Spurs and ManU win their games in hand we are still in the top 4 conversation so not a bad place to be right now
We are in decent form so I think we are in with more of a shout tomorrow than the reverse fixture at the start of the season
Come on you Gunners
Happy New Year to you all
Please don’t forget that if Spurs and others have the same number of games we have played, arsenal will not be in fourth position.
Only Spurs can go above us as things stand.
Even Spuds won’t be able to win their games in hand.. It’s pointless no one is catching us.
James Okereke Don’t talk silly there is still a lot of football to be played no knows what will happen
Can I borrow your crystal ball?
Quite right Fingers, we will still be in the shake up – both Man U and Spurs still have to play Man City and we all have to face Liverpool and Chelsea. Not only that but we play Man U and Spurs again too.
No way the fat lady sings, win or lose tomorrow, until right at the death.
Happy New Year all – wishing all of us a successful footballing season!
All I have is hope but there are complications. The coaches being sick has affected preparation. Sure Man City will be fatigues but they have players that didn’t play 2 days ago who would walk into our team so fatigue doesnt matter for the most part. Obviously they don’t change the whole 11 but the other important players that are fresh will play. Now, the players can probably be a little more free with Arteta not barking instructions every 2 mins, at the same time he being there could be reassuring for there. It is just very tricky to know. At the end of the day, I have hope we beat them, I have been optimistic in the past and we have been handed a good beating so it won’t be surprising if we are in for another hiding. Player response after such a defeat will matter so our season doesn’t get derailed.. If they can be competitive in this game, I will be all in on the Arteta project.
If we don’t match their way of playing on and off the ball ,we will be demolished no doubt.Our team must keep resilient to beat their tactics.
This is the kind of article that will cause revolt wen we lose. Man city are better than us by far forget wining. Am going to watch to enjoy myself bcos just seeing arsenal jersey is a joy for me.
Well, if truly arsenal want to get top four position, this second half of the season they needs to get a very good or average game against all those top club. Is either a win or draw against Man City. But honestly I don’t see arsenal beating Man City tomorrow if is going to happen they will need miracle and luck. Good luck to them… Also they need a quality defensive midfielder to cover for partey and also get Sterling as well.
Why should sterling join us ?
Agreed…but also do we want him?
Will cost a fortune ..there are other cheaper and younger players out there who could potentially be better than Sterling
True, and who would they bench, Saka or Martinelli? Is it worth bumping ESR further down on sub bench and less playing time as well?
No thanks, I’ll stick with Saka and Martinelli and invest the funds in a top striker.
After that a DM to anchor the defense. We still have not replaced Silvia in that key position.
A DM can help stabilize our midfield and allow attackers to remain higher up the pitch.
Still feel the best option is White as DM next year and Saliba paired with Gabriel at CB.
Holding is good 3rd choice CB, and selling Chambers, Mavro, and Mari could net a good 4th choice.
For me a top DM is the priority in January, followed by a replacement for Laca in the summer- and that doesn’t mean necessarily a capocannoniere as we play better with a rugged false nine, which is Laca these days.
Finally a more typical RWB like Lamptey or Baku of Mainz, who also plays midfield. Not necessarily competing like for like with Tomi, but as an alternative if a more offensive set up is needed.
I’m feeling optimistic; optimistic that we’ll put up a fight this time and not just roll over!
I’m really looking forward to it, should be a belter and I’ll be there to cheer them on! COYG
Will be at the game tomorrow trying to make up the 12th man. We’ll need it! Midfield is the problem area imho. Their quality goes without saying but having watched citeh at emirates for many of our recent losses against them , its their work rate on and off the ball that has been our undoing.
Come on you gunners!
I wouldn’t mind a 2-0 thrashing, all I want is for us to have a good game,
City have very fast forwards, as it stands we have only Martinelli, if we can add Tavares to the midfield, I think Lacazette’s holdup play could payoff, Saka isn’t too fast but has quick feet and is direct, odegaard has an eye for passes but would need fast players upfront,
Tavares might just be the difference against city.
Even Guadiola knows his only coming to play the physical walk over match against Arteta cox he always has this inferiority complex when he sees Guadiola and Guadiola loves embarrassing him deep down,only to come out to praise him craftily..Botttomline the only way we can come out with a draw is for all the players to step up and take the game to mancity with 101% focus and not attacking cluelessly or defending too deep or playing ARTETAs negative back pass and moving the ball in our own halve cluelessly or always using the same wing play from start to finish…The players should believe in them self cox they can do it and not Arteta
To beat city, we are going to need concentration, belief in our ability, no silly mistakes and bloody hard work… And the crowd💪 Happy new year guys..🍻
That’s the spirit
And happy new year to you and all world wide Gooners
Come on we’re on point, win lose or draw..jubilation.. Happy new year Gunners
A JA so called STATMAN who fails to notice that Boxing day is almost a week ago now but who uses pointless and irrelevant (in any case) stats from previous Boxing Day matches , is not much of a Statman, I say.
HOW ABOUT CALLING HIM INCORRECT AND POINTLESS FALSE STATMAN??
As someone said up there, Tavares will be the GameChanger against City!
Once he is not in the Line-up, we have lost!😒
His Unpredictable style will be a problem for City!
Arsenal has to play a Chelsea pattern 3 men defence with two wing backs formation!
This Match is one Arsenal MUST win! We are in the Emirates FFs!🤨
I predict a high scoring encounter!
Arsenal 6 Man City 4!😍
Oh Vinnie, that’s bloody hilarious! Would be a well deserved gift for the new year, won’t it!
Man City can be beaten, if we score first we can do it. That team, good as it is, are not so good at come backs.
I can only assume that the original title of “2 not so compelling and 1 totally nonsensical reason why I believe Arsenal will beat Man City tomorrow” just didn’t have the same ring to it, so you simply opted for what you mistakenly believed to be the next best option??? asking for a friend
Í😂
Man city is beatable and i dont know why people fear them this much.Its not like they have been winning everything….nor have they been invincibles..
I am surprused to see some fans settling for a draw even b4 the match starting but call themselves “Arsenal” fans.
Gooner Up dudes
Antecedent my Bother.
I however know that the mental block will erase on one matchday and we can start looking forward to good and even games against them from then forth.
Wow! You have invented a new verb, to “Gooner” up! Til now it has always been a noun!
Happy new year to all and looking forward to seeing us beat city later but also hoping we dont get spanked. COYG
After the high expectations against Liverpool earlier and the way we were annihilated I will be lying to myself if I believe that we can beat MC. Whatever the result is today we shouldn’t have high hopes, let just go out there and support the lads and hope for the best out come.
Ars 2 – 1 MC
#COYG
MC Wizz, I am bound to notice that since you actually precict a 2-1 win, despite saying differently in your post prior to that score, that you ARE lying to yourself.
On the pessimism of the mind optimism of the will principle will go for 2 2 … despite their run of victories city have looked a bit jaded and vulnerable in last couple of games … we need to contain their wing play and ensure our midfield provides opportunities for attackers which is why we should play 3 across the middle including Tavares (and not xhaka) … I am not convinced arteta will opt for this even though his knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses has not helped in previous games against them .. need 100 per cent effort across the park as brentford showed