Arsenal travel to the Etihad Stadium tomorrow to take on Manchester City, in what could have a huge effect on the race for the top-four.
The Sky Blues come into the match on the back of a disappointing Champions League semi-final match, where they failed to bring any sort of game to Real Madrid on Wednesday. City will have to pick themselves up quickly with the risk of dropping out of the top-four a realistic possibility.
We sit third in the English top division, three points above our rivals in fourth place, and a win would seal our place within the top three. A loss on the other hand would drop us into fourth place, and give Manchester United a chance of leap-frogging us into the Champions League places.
Our opponents will also have to manage without their captain Vincent Kompany for the crucial match-up, having limped out of their loss in midweek. Other key first-team players David Silva, Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandr Kolarov are also ruled out of the encounter, which could also play into our hands.
We will be without Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Per Mertesacker, but are able to call upon the services of the returning Santi Cazorla, who made it through an hour of football earlier in the week.
Predicted staring XI:
Cech
Bellerin Gabriel Koscielny Monreal
Coquelin Elneny
Iwobi Ozil Sanchez
Welbeck
I honestly don’t think I’m being over-biased in thinking that Manchester City are going to come into this with low morale, although our recent form has hardly been inspiring. I would take a 1-1 draw leaving us in need of only one point from the game with Aston Villa to confirm our CL place, but my head keeps telling me we will add to their woes and snatch a 2-1 win.
Am I the only one thinking positively about our chances at the Etihad?