Arsenal vs Manchester City: Gunners face tough test against reigning league champions

Arsenal vs Manchester City preview: Gunners face tough test against reigning Premier League champions

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By Oli Dickson Jefford

Wednesday’s 6-0 victory over West Brom would have come as a huge relief to Mikel Arteta and all at Arsenal after an incredibly disappointing start to the season.

However, a League Cup match against a team in the Championship is not quite ideal preparation for what’s to come this weekend.

After league defeats to Brentford and Chelsea, the Gunners now face the mammoth task of taking on reigning Premier League champions Manchester City.

City started their league campaign with a disappointing 1-0 loss at Tottenham, though they trounced Norwich 5-0 last weekend in their first home match of the season. 

That win, although one to be expected, will give Pep Guardiola’s men a great deal of confidence – as will their record against Arsenal last season.

The Citizens did the double over Arsenal in the league, winning both matches 1-0, and also thrashed Arsenal 4-1 during their successful run in the League Cup.

All those stats point heavily to a Man City victory this weekend and that is only aided by the strength within their squad.

Though they have failed in their pursuit of Harry Kane, the £100m signing of Jack Grealish is already paying dividends.

Grealish looked promising on his debut at Spurs despite the defeat and scored on his home debut last week.

Strong early season performances from the likes of Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez will also encourage Guardiola. 

Defensively, Arsenal have not looked sound this season and with £50m summer signing Ben White likely to still be out after his positive covid test, it will be interesting to see how Arteta tries to deal with City’s attacking onslaught.

Despite their obvious strengths, however, Man City are by no means unbeatable.




Perhaps their biggest weakness is their defence and in particular the centre-back partnership of Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake.

There is no questioning that both Laporte and Ake are extremely capable defenders in their own right but the latter spent the majority of the last campaign injured and the fairly new partnership looked vulnerable at times against Tottenham’s attack.

There could be opportunities for Arsenal in that area and it will be interesting to see how Arteta lines up come Saturday lunchtime.

Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were both back in goalscoring mood against West Brom in midweek but whether that translates into a Premier League match against the reigning champions remains to be seen.

Neither started against Chelsea last week but with Gabriel Martinelli having disappointed in that match, both could well be called upon.

Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith-Rowe and Nicolas Pepe are all likely to be in the starting XI and will be key to Arsenal’s chances.

Though none of that trio have excelled this season, they have been among Arsenal’s most consistent performers and will need to raise their games for this one. 

There is little doubt that Man City head into this contest as favourites and that they are stronger in most, if not all, departments.

But this is by no means a foregone conclusion and if the Gunners can take some of their midweek attacking flair into the contest, they have a chance to cause problems for Guardiola’s men.

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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