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Confirmed Teams for Arsenal’s trip to Man City this afternoon

The teams are out for today’s trip to the Etihad, where both Arsenal and Manchester City will be desperate for the win.

The Gunners arrive here with zero points from their opening two matches with Chelsea and Brentford, while the Citizens will be weary of their shaky start to the season, whilst Chelsea and Man United have shown strong intent on mounting a serious challenge for this season’s Premier League title already.

Both sides will definitely be feeling the heat as they head into today’s matchup, and both camps insist that they are targeting the win, although the bookmakers make a home win the strong odds-on favourite result.

Mikel Arteta has had a number of boosts to his playing squad this week, but we remain with four key players, which is why we do not have our best possible eleven named below.

I’m not entirely sure on the formation here, but it looks like a 3-4-3 with Tierney, Cedric, Xhaka and ESR in the four, which will make for an intriguing watch.

Is this the best team possible from those available? Does this line-up have what it takes to chase a win today?

Patrick

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Tags Man City Man City v Arsenal

398 Comments

      1. The formation makes sense.. This game should be interesting. 5 left footed players. More technical players and young. We should see more energy. I am glad Arteta take the defense seriously

        1. I wished Pepe was healthy, so we could field six left-footers to congest our left side and force Man City to play there

          1. clearly you must see by now how little you know about the game of football…Kols and left-footed players = clueless

      3. I bet, we will very quickly regret Kolasinac playing for Arsenal again. This is Man City, not west Brom…

    2. Quick question Sue,
      So Saliba still isn’t ready but Kola is ready to play CB?

      No way Saliba is a worse CB than Holding, Chambers, even Mari; even Arteta can’t ignore the universal laws of Physics.

      Sinking feeling we ousted the wrong 2 CB’s by sending out Saliba and Mavroporas

      1. Xhaka going full Xhaka again; simply can’t help himself getting red cards.

        I’m sure Arteta won’t do anything about it, Xhaka will be back in lineup immediately when he’s available.

      1. Sue the truth is GAI knows more about football than most on here, I remember him telling you that kolasinc might start and boom he starts.

          1. Another thing is there are no big strong and powerful CF involved in City line up…
            If there would have Kane then Kolasinac might have struggled

        3. Agreed Lenohappy. GAI gets heat here, but he is pretty knowledgeable about formations and player profiles. Plenty of what he says makes sense, though on some things I struggle with, lol.

  3. More like a 3-4-2-1 to me

    ……..Chambers-Holding-Kolasinac…..
    ……..Cedric……..ESR…..Xhaka……. Tierney…
    …………. Odegaard………..Saka……………………..
    …………………. Aubameyang……………………………

    Odegaard and Saka with the freedom to roam everywhere on the pitch.

    Good decision to bench Mari who gets bullied easily. I don’t care if Kola is leaving by tomorrow. I’ll rather see him play today and Mari on the bench.

    Let’s see what comes out of it.
    COYG

    2. I just hope Tierney doesn’t produce wasteful long crosses and focuses on cutting inside instead. I think Tavares and him have the potentials to be Spinazzola 2.0

      1. Come on Grandad, Pepe was present in last two matches and white was also in first match which was against a newly promoted team. That can not be an excuse.

    3. Only really odd selection would be Ode versus Lokonga if it is 3 at the back everything else seems pretty standard.

  5. It’s either 4-2-3-1 with Chambers as a DM:

    ……………………… Leno
    Cedric . Holding . Kolasinac . Tierney
    ……………. Chambers …………. Xhaka
    Saka ………….. Odegaard …………. Smith-Rowe
    ……………………… Aubameyang

    Or 3-4-2-1 with Smith-Rowe plays in deep midfield area:

    …………………….. Leno
    …… Chambers . Holding . Kolasinac
    Cedric . Smith-Rowe . Xhaka . Tierney
    ….. Odegaard ………… Saka
    ……………. Aubameyang

    In my opinion, Arteta should’ve used his tactic in West Bromwich and start the same six left-footed players. But he must’ve known better as a manager

      1. If we can force Man City to focus only on our left side, I think he’ll be okay. Because Man City don’t have someone like Benteke, Lukaku or Kane in their front line

        1. The 3 at the back just seems more plausible with Chambers and Kola suiting that. Haven’t seen Chambers at DM for a long time and Kola in a 2 with Mari available? Not impossible, wait and see I guess.

          1. What you said makes better sense actually – I think I’d prefer the back 4 line up, but the back 3 is more likely.
            It could be that we’re looking to shut down the wide areas and gaps between CBs and fullbacks/wingbacks, and basically ignore the central midfield in the hopes we can counter quickly?
            I guess we have to try something given our limited options.

        2. It’s a good thought – I tend to think that CB is a position where you can’t mess around too much, though. The positional understanding is far too important and I expect someone like Kola to be pulled around and drawn out of position too easily. Vidic is considered one of the best CBs in PL history (although I do think he’s overrated, he was very good) and even he fell foul of that against the top sides.
          Maybe if we play a very deep, defensive game, Kola will get through it. It might be that he’s been training as a CB for some time, but I always thought his positional awareness was his big weakness at fullback, so I’m not hopeful to be honest.

          1. By playing deep and waiting for counter-attack, hopefully Man City will give Aubameyang the space he craved for

    1. Here comes the guy who always has to go down the negative route all the time.
      Don’t you get tired? I mean don’t you get weighed down by seeing everything in a negative light every day?

      2. Eddie, dont you get tired of closing your eyes and thinking every think is rosy every single day every single minute. Doesn’t it bother you that how cut off from reality you are? Thank God world has people who are not like you otherwise we would still be in stone age because you guys just have no ambition and sense of progression.

    2. Do you cry whenever we get a good result as you won’t get to whine and throw your negative drivel around?

        1. Wake up and smell the coffee, your daily whining wont change anything. You’re like the the dog barking at the moon, not doing anything except annoying people.

          1. This is the main point. For fūck sakes most of us know how terrible we are as a football club over the past years and it’s not enough to deal with the misery the club piles up on fans, we have to constantly deal with our fellow fans reminding us of how terrible we are everyday, killing whatever light’s left in us.
            That shït depressing bro, real depressing

          2. Ackshay, its because of people who make effort that things change. what he is doing is much better then what you lot are doing Sitting silent and doing nothing. So you want everyone to shut up and accept this failure while you might be used to failures and not trying but some people are not. Unless people air their dissatisfaction things don’t change.

          3. Im sorry i dont accept the mediocrity on offer from Arteta and his glaring inability. I wont keep quiet, i have an opinion which reflects far more reality than any of yours.

          4. And the reason it is negative is because there is no positivity at the moment and probably for a ling while so get used to it or dont read it. EASY.

  8. I would have it no other way. Maybe find a space for laca who can keep the ball. Fast attack, good transition in midfield with smith. Just hit shitty on the counter. I see us winning if a Xhaka or Leno doesn’t happen.

    1. I liked lasinac and Tavares last time out. I’d like Tavares to comes on later to add more insertion.

    1. Yes AMN is much better but the man can’t be bothered to play rb. Shame as he has an easy road to be the main rb.

      1. AMN played best at left wing back, I think the expectation is that if he applied himself, he could develop into an excellent RB as he had the skillset for it. I think he played very well at RB once in a win over Man Utd, but I remember a lot of complaints about his defensive awareness in other games

  13. Kolasinac is strong but my fear; he’s slow to turn and can make some wrong passes, he plays better without too much directions,

    Today would have been a good time to unleash Lokonga but I struggle to find a sport for him,

    We need another strong, goal scoring and commanding AM,

    If Lacazette leaves, hopefully we get Calvert Lewis from Everton.

  14. Looks like a 5-4-1 to me.
    Arteta being cautious here. Given the situation, I wouldn’t blame him. Fingers crossed, this is football, you never know….. COYG !!!!!!!

  15. Arteta really doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing.Kolasinac struggled playing as a left sided Centre back against the West Brom under-23s…Mahrez will have him on toast!..Tierney has played that role both for Arsenal and Scotland and I would think that Tavares might have been able to nullify Citeh overloading the flank with both Walker and Mahrez….On the other side Cedric will have his work cut out nullifying Grealish and Cancelo.If Arteta trusted him in this role then surely he would have played him there either against Chelsea or West Brom….AMN might not want to play on the right in a back five but surely this was the game to persuade him.A decent performance might have either persuaded him of his worth to this team or otherwise persuaded another team to pay a decent fee for him.
    There is no doubt that Xhaka will be over-run through the midfield…but Arteta seems bound to pick him no matter what…Standby for another depressing loss…under the management of a coach who doesn’t have a clue and needs to be replaced.

    1. @joel, I kinda agree, Tavares/Maitland-Niles would have been better at RB, for steel,

      I would prefer Lacazette paired with Smith-Rowe instead of Xhaka, he’s strong and understands the teenagers well.

      1. Are you suggesting to play Laca in CM? That’s a really interesting thought – reminds me of eidur gudjonnsen switching to midfield under mourinho. Actually worked extremely well, and they aren’t dissimilar players tbf

  16. Wow. Well I truly hope Odegaard can live up to that number 8 cause we are gonna have non existent control in midfield. Lokonga should’ve started but we all knew he’d shoehorn Ode into the side no matter what. If you’re gonna go all youth atleast throw lokonga in there in place of xhaka.

  17. Kolasinac is strong but my fear; he’s slow to turn and can make some wrong passes, he plays better without too much directions,

    Today would have been a good time to unleash Lokonga but I struggle to find a sport for him,

    Somehow I feel Lacazette should be in that mix instead of Xhaka,

    We need another strong, goal scoring and commanding AM,

    If Lacazette leaves, hopefully we get Calvert Lewis from Everton.

    1. DCL is my dream but would be very expensive, Everton are after Nissard so who knows (rumours around Kean to Juve, Richarlison to PSG though.)

  18. 3-5-2 for me as I called it in earlier articles. We need to sh*thouse this game and not leave gaps in midfield and defence or they will cut us to pieces. I’m more confident now that we won’t get a spanking and may even get something out of the game. COYG

    1. In fact though, until the game starts no one can be sure what the formation is. Even whatever the tv show as the line up before the game is pure guesswork.

  19. Arteta just loves Xhaka in the middle and he can’t do without him and this will definitely hinder a quicker releasing of the ball unless Xhaka decides to be quick on that which is impossible for 90mins. This for me is a more balanced formation to help the attack going forward.

    SCORPION FORMATION

    —————————Leno————————

    ——Chambers——-Holding——–Xhaka——-

    Cedric—Lokonga——Smith-Rowe——-Tieney

    ———————–Odegaard———————-

    Saka————————————–Aubamayang

    OR

    —————————Leno————————

    ——-Chambers———Holding——–Xhaka——

    Cedric—Lokonga——Smith-Rowe———Tieney

    ——————Odegaard——-Saka—————–

    ———————-Aubamayang———————-

  20. Love this lineup honestly! If we also follow the tactics that go with the said lineup I will be more than happy with any result today! And I mean it! Well done Senor Arteta, show us your flexibility and tactics ala 2020 which got you the FACup. I think now we have faster players than then and if all goes according to plan, we might even get a surprising result. At worst, at least would not see the slow buildup and pinball strat…
    Sadly, due to some work might miss the first half. Still best of luck to the boys and the boss!
    COYG!

    1. One for you, Sid.

      “Mikel did so much good work for us and helped us achieve our targets while he was here. I will always be grateful to him. I know the way he sets his team up means we will be in for a tough game today.”

      🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

      1. Bad start eh, 😂😂 I won’t back out yet. For me, the formation change itself is a positive, lol. Just hope no bromance occurs at the full-time press conference!

  21. Looking forward to this. Auba/Ode back and we’re away at the Champions so low expectation free hit! Hope they go out there and put on a performance.

  22. Chambers kolasinac xhaka are way out of their depth against a team like city even when not at full strength… a lot will depend on whether saka odergaard and aube can hurt them at the back … won’t be a comfortable lunchtime

  23. cedric kola xhaka holding my god 2 sub keepers no balogun,luke im ur father yes pep

  24. It is indeed 5-4-1 according to Google and Flashscores. I think we are going to park the bus and for the better.

    1. Not necessarily…
      When Conte won PL, he always used to play 3 at back but his team never parked bus
      Even Tuchel also play 3 at back but his team never park bus

  25. Xhaka not leaving arsenal is a major problem for this team, how can you bench Lokonga for this game?

  32. @GAI do you really feel height is require to score by head??
    Last year Sterling Scored and this season Gündoğan
    Both are very very short

        1. Gai usually spill sh!t
          Player height, player hold up play, dominant in the air, left foot, inverted cb

  33. Have said it before and I will say it again, Holding should be playing in the championship, how the h**l did gundogan who is shorter jumped more than holding.

    1. If any of us Arsenal fans think we can beat City with this team then we must be smoking something very strong

  46. At this point, even if we play eleven defenders on the pitch. We’ll still be terrible defensively.
    2 goals down under 11 minutes is terribly embarrassing

      1. Bro? At this point it’s everybody at the club’s fault.
        From the board, to the manager and his staffs and the eleven players.
        Defending and keeping ball out of the 18 yards box doesn’t require and special abilities FFS

    1. @Awhy, we’re also one man down. Xhaka and his usual brain fart. Can’t believe we just gave this dude a new contract.

    1. 3-0 now. 7goals conceded so far this season, zero scored. “Trust the process”.
      What process exactly?
      Three man City attempts on target, equals three goals scored.

  51. All over the place, tactically naive, no game plan, no shape, no nothing. Whoever coached this mob is on something.

  52. Arteta’s Defensive Tactics:

    -Straight line of 4 defenders
    -Straight line of 4 midfielders

    Miles of space between them for any team to run in-between. Waiting for GAI’s next excuse

  53. Those of you hypocrites who still believe in Arteta, Leno and Xhaka I really pity your instincts. You think you are the real Arsenal fans , wait until you see yourselves relegated

        1. Thank goodness someone else remembers the things people say and confront them with it.

          This is the game, for me, when I lose all confidence in MA.

          It really is time to go Mikel and I wonder how Loose Cannon will be able to blame this on AW?

  55. Saka is an overhyped player with no hearts too casual with the ball, he got a beautiful chance to score

    1. Faith move the mountains Sid! Only in fiction. We should be more worried that the match isn’t over.

      2. no, but lots of ppl not seeing how bad this situation is. I mean besides for Reggie, there were literally articles on this site with ready-made excuses for losing this match and having zero points three games in. So there is a decent amount of awareness. We just need to lose the excuses and admit arteta is a dreadful manager, the worst in a long, long time. The money hes gotten has been spent very very poorly, and our owner is a joke in every way. Why anyone defends this ongoing circus i dont understand. Being irrationally hopeful about this sitaution isnt going to cover up this blatant decline.

        1. RSH you can’t really tell me there are fans who don’t see or know that we are terrible and they don’t see how bad the situation is?
          I’m asking why do you guys think just because some fans are constantly not writing about it everyday that they are okay with how things are going?

    2. @Highbury44,
      Pep will likely instruct his boys to go into game control mode. He may not want to get his former protege sacked. I really hope so, cos if City go full throttle against 10man Arsenal, we may witness an embarrassing scorelines.

  64. cedric come on ur having a laugh arteta dats some kinda clearance,no midfield no hope with arteta

  66. total amateur is what i’ll keep saying. he thinks throwing more low par defenders in the lineup will make the defense better 😂

  67. Kroenke sell the club or bring in either Conte or Zidane. If Arteta’s pathetic circus doesn’t show you cheapskate is a no go nothing ever will!

    1. Why blame kronke when a lot of fans are on same page as him. They all think we are on right path and Arteta should be given more time as he is the right guy. I think kronke might be looking or hearing voices of these fans and think that is what fans want.

  68. whats our gameplan whos marking who,weve got to protest,smithrowe shooting practice.,playing with 3-4 pub level players so not 2 bad

  72. We all have to bear this because Arteta is already given a pass by Arsenal board and some of the fans. I did not know that when fans went against Wenger for betterment this was what they were after. Unfortunately we have looser mentality running throught our the club and now fans as well whi hide behind stupid excuses one after another to defend this mentality in the naming of rebuilding the club.

  73. To those fans who always call Pepe different names, thumb up to you guys. Without Pepe we can’t create any chance in the right wing.

  75. Like I said after our first two games.
    Our pressing is embarrassing. Very embarrassing.
    I just stood and watched Ederson pulled a shíthousery by standing on the ball with his hands on his waist for nearly thirty seconds at the edge of the box, and watched our players staring at him instead of pressing

  76. Its completely obvious that MA is clueless. Swapping and changing the defense on a weekly basis. New formation on a weekly basis. It’s a shambles!

  77. We are ridiculously vulnerable to opponent switching play. City are baiting saka inside and switching the play to the their left side where soares now is 1v2. Same for the opposite side.

  80. Yes We are not playing well but ref is clearly crap. City can do all the tactical fouls without punishment but we get instantly penalised.

  82. Can not blame the owner he is probably listening to good majority of fans and also some ex players who think Arteta is the man , we are in right direction and he should be given more time with finencial support. So I hope these so called 50+ experience of being Arsenal fans and these cut off from reality ex players like Merson are enjoying this but then what can you do when people in your ranks have looser mentality.

  85. Process is a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.i don’t the end arteta meant bt continue trusting the process as xhaka gets the red card

  86. Arteta has made these players into championship level players and still we think he is the guy 😂🤣😂

      1. Now Arteta brigade can say we were unlucky because Xhaka hot a red and Arteta had to play with 10 players 🤣😂🤣. From injuries, red card, experience, youth to COVID you name it they have used every single excuses next on the list is may be gobal warming I am sure that is some how effecting our performance 😜

  90. No surprise Xhaka seeing red…
    Some Arsenal fans leaving the ground.. poor sods, don’t blame them.
    A horrible afternoon…

    We are bottom of the league say we are bottom of the league!

    2. Kola and cedric on the books too this early. With frustrations boiling over, our nightmare may get worse.

  93. This is what happens when every single person at the club has no balls. A player that has been a liability since day one and told the fans to F off and what do they do? Give him a new contract.
    We need to unite as one voice to get rid of them all.

  95. Don’t worry guys our season starts from December anyways …hahaha. we need right sided left footed manager 😂🤣

  96. On the bright won’t you have to read the utter bs from got no idea Jon F and the other panglossian’s on this site …

    1. Haha yeah the our wonderful young manager and how if you don’t support him you aren’t a real fan 😜

  97. Xhaka a bit unlucky with red card, but we have four more years of him. Misfortune. Most naive manager ever and for Edu to give 4 year contract to Xhaka…..bloody insanity. He should be sacked immediately. Inept.

  98. Absolutely idiotic by Xhaka and they extended this guys contract ludicrous Arteta has lost the players he has to go now

  99. It is Arsene’s fault, not MA – these words are not from me but come out from bottom of hearts of JA 3 great intellects namely LC, GB & TMJW.

    1. Kenny, I am afriad it’s not only these three but there are a lot I have read through some article last week and comments. There are a lot of fans who thing we are on right track and Arteta is the man to over see all this. These also include lot of regulars like Gotanidea, SueP, Jon Fox, Alan ball etc

      1. Yes..Arteta is taking the club forward.. 6th to 8th in first season. Now its 20th ..Isn’t it too fast? And that too after painstakingly spending around 200m… Who else can bring Arsenal to 20th position so fast..🤣🤣🤣🤣. Dedicate this game to all Arteta lovers…🤣🤣🤣

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