Next Sunday, following a busy run of games which would’ve witnessed Arsenal play twice in four days, they’ll be involved in a crucial encounter versus Manchester City who are eyeing up a fifth consecutive Premier League title.
After four Premier League matchday’s Arsenal sit second in the table on ten points, two behind Pep Guardiola’s men in first (12).
The Gunners have secured three wins in four matches with the most frustrating result being a 1-1 draw against Brighton, seeing Arsenal concede two points from a leading position.
This is why The North Londoner’s are second in the table instead of on joint points with City at the top.
Arsenal have the chance on Sunday to go top and above City with a win at the Etihad, however if they lose they’ll be in a worse situation and forced to play catch up to the blue side of Manchester, perhaps for the rest of the season. Manchester City don’t look like a side again this campaign who will drop too many points, in fact they lost only three games last season, two less than Arsenal with five.
A draw wouldn’t be too bad, keeping the current points difference intact and retaining Arsenal’s unbeaten start to the season, although I’m sure most fans would prefer the three points than not!
The Etihad has not been an easy playground for Arsenal for nearly the past decade, since Arsene Wenger’s side beat Manuel Pellegrini’s City 2-0 in 2015. This was the last time Arsenal knocked the Citizens down on home soil, highlighting the fact that since Guardiola took over in 2016 City have never lost to The Gunners who have warranted four managers in that time at the Etihad!
If Arsenal are to turn this fact on its head and go on to snatch the title from City this season at last, they need to get on top of their opponent from the start and clinch victory on Sunday. Especially considering the league was lost last campaign by the current two point deficit, which could be enough to defy The Gunners campaign again.
But hopefully not!
Liam Harding
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If we lose, it would be a normal result because Man City are too perfect
If we draw, it would be a very good result
If we win, Arteta would be a genius
Am not losing a minute sleep on this one, the law of average dictates the time is right to replace the old guard.
I hope you’re right. However, a common definition of “the law of averages” suggests that “…the “law” usually reflects wishful thinking or a poor understanding of statistics rather than any mathematical principle.”, so it may not be quite as strong an indicator as we all hope.
In any case, I suspect that the “law” would have worked, if it worked at all, against City winning four titles consecutively because no team had done that before.
Not necessarily of mathematical principles but of a wider belief in the relative frequency of any event will correspon to its probability, think cherry picking pass events is a poor example.
We may soon start losing matches with narrow margins like 1-0 because our forward line has become so impotent. We must address this before playing city coz it definitely won’t be easy.
It’s a shame that our team has no one who can effectively fill in for Havertz as C.f,Saka and Odegaard.
For now,I think we have no option but to put Saka in Odegaards position. He is the only one with the technique and industry that can match Odegaard. Havertz can’t distribute the ball while Trossard loses possession so easily and has no gas to even last an hour playing at high tempo.
Martinelli needs to be benched, it’s time Sterling gets a run on the left and see if he merits to stay there.
Gabriel Jesus is another big disappointment.But we can do with his energy running out wide on the right wing.He doesn’t justify why he is the second highest paid player at Arsenal.
Partey, Rice and Jorginho are similar players,they make our midfield super slow when we play them at the same time.
With that in mind,my Opinion is that Arteta should be looking at the below lineup for the city game.(4231).
Raya
White Saliba Gabriel Timber
Rice Calafiori
G.Jesus Saka Sterling
Havertz
I agree with you mate, but let’s keep faith with this team,we will get the result at the Ethihad.we will grind out the result we need.our defense will do the needful.sterling and Jesus will prove the difference
Stirling may, hopefully, make a (if not “the”) difference, but it will take quite a transformation from the “Atalanta Jesus” for him to do that in my opinion. You never can tell though; we’ll only know on Sunday.
I don’t think Sterling is fit. I an yet to be convinced that he has still got it.
Think he needs to start first before we judge
Let him start against Bolton
“Partey, Rice and Jorginho are similar players” – Partey and jorginho are similar, but rice is completely different. Rice has pace and energy and many other qualities they don’t so much, but partey and jorginho are high quality deep playmakers. They don’t slow down the play at all when at their best, unless they need to at that point in the match – on the contrary, they play the crucial forward passes that find our attacking players in dangerous positions much more frequently than rice can.
We should play to our best, we should try to avoid defeat, that is very paramount importance . We should be more creative in the middle of the pack. We never get a perfect replacement for odedarg. May be trosard should start the game. Letter we should introduce nwaneri.
Hi Cliff,I do agree with u but it’s better imo to shift between Timber and Calafiori.Tmber has ability,the balance and the technique to play as dmf while Calafiori attributes
suit the wide role.
@Artsenal I went for the two in those positions because of what I’ve seen so far.
Timber has created some Chemistry with Saliba and Gabriel. The longer they play together the better for our team.
On the other hand Calafiori has better passing ability to Timber. He also gives us some balance on our left side.If you’ve noted we are playing with only right footed guys on that side,that’s why Arteta puts Havertz there which I disagree with.
As we wait for Merino and may be Zinchenko, Calafiori is the most appropriate person for us in that position.
Going to be very tough but I’d be happy with a draw and blown away with a win
Without Odergaard our attack has been almost stagnant
I wish we had kept ESR
The lineup will be the same as the NLD except for Rice being back. Our only hope is the Defense, and not just ours but City’s as well. City have conceded more than Arsenal and they look vulnerable defensively in the early stages of the match. Early goal against Ipswitch and Brentford for example. If Arsenal can capitalize on that, it will be difficult for City to comeback as Arsenal are happy to defend a 1-nil with all they’ve got.
My danger man against City is not Haaland in this fixture but Gundogan and Bernardo Silva. If we can keep them quiet and not let them dictate the ball too much, I think Arsenal can come up with a draw and even a win.
100%
I like your line. But Arteta wont do this. I wish he could read your comment.