Arsene Wenger and Co will visit to Etihad Stadium to play against the Premier League leaders Manchester City. Arenal had drawn against Red Star Belgrade with the scoreline settling with 0-0. With this 1 point from the encounter Arsenal now reached the next round of Europa League and will be more focused towards the City Clash as a win in this match would surely boost up their confidence level for the rest of the season.
On the other hand, Manchester City had earned a stunning victory against Napoli with a margin of 4-2. Sergio Aguero had become the highest goal scorer of Manchester City of all time in that match. He had scored the 178th goal for Manchester City in the match against Napoli.
Manchester City are currently situated at the top of the League Table of Premier League with 28 points in 10 matches so far while Arsenal are now at 5th position with 19 points in same number of matches.
When and Where :
Manchester City vs Arsenal will be held on November 5 and game kick-off time is 19:45 IST at Etihad Stadium.
Team News :
Arsenal will get the service of Sead Kolasinac and David Ospina though the latter one might have to sit on the bench as Petr Cech is in pole position to start against Manchester City. Santi Cazorla, Danny Welbeck, Shkodran Mustafi, Calum Chambers – all will miss this tie due to several injury problems.
On the other hand, Benjamin Mendy is long term absentee for Manchester City. Vincent Kompany will also miss the tie having a calf problem.
“He cannot be with the national team. He is two months injured. He will stay here and hopefully start training.”, Pep Guardiola told about the injury state of Vincent Kompany.
Stones and Otamendi had played most of the matches as the pair in the central defense for Manchester City.
“They have played almost all games and they have played a high level and done really well. It is amazing.” , Pep told.
Manager’s Saying :
Arsene Wenger :
Arsene Wenger insisted that Arsenal will be on attacking mode if required in the match.
“We will try to play our game. We will not hide,” the Arsenal manager said.
“When we go there, we want to defend well but you cannot go there and only be focused on just defending. We want as well to play, have the ball and create dangerous situations. The best way to defend sometimes is to attack.”
“When you want to play football, you have to accept the risk and you have to play. If you want to play football, when you walk out on the pitch you have to accept the gamble and the risk. It is part of the game.
“After, you have to rate the risk. Is it a bigger risk only to defend than to attack if a team is very strong in attack? Maybe it is a bigger risk only to defend.”, he added.
Pep Guardiola :
Pep showed a great respect for Arsenal.
“Against Arsenal, it is complicated. Hopefully, we will have recovered well from Napoli and will put in a performance for our fans.”,he said.
“What matters is to play good and win the game. The main thing is always to win the next one. Our supporters can help us with that.”, he added.
Pep showed great admiration to Ozil too.
“I don’t have doubts about him in terms of his quality. I enjoy watching him. The big men get criticised. I admire him a lot.”
Pep had been pleased with Sterling’s performance this season
“He’s enjoying scoring goals. He isn’t afraid to take a risk. He realises how fun it is to score goals; how good it is.”, Guardiola stated.
About Sanchez rumours Pep showed a very much professional attitude.
” He’s an Arsenal player. His manager has to speak about him. The transfer window is closed.”
Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero- the choice is really difficult for a manager.
“They can play together. To have space, sometimes it’s better to have two wide players.”, Guardiola said.
Key Clash :
The key clash of the match is going to be between Alexandre Lacazette of Arsenal and Sergio Aguero of Manchester City. Lacazette had already scored 5 goals in Premier League this season for Arsenal and he will be eager to get another goal against Manchester City to prove his worth in the team. On the other hand Sergio Aguero had become the highest goal scorer of Manchester City of all time in the match against Napoli in Champions League. He had already scored 7 goals for Manchester City this season. The result of the match will depend mostly on these two players’ goal scoring form.
Manchester City vs Arsenal Head To Head Records :
Manchester City had played against Arsenal 191 times till date. Arsenal were victorious in 96 occasions , Manchester City had won 50 times and 45 matches were drawn.
Possible Starting Eleven :
Manchester City :
Ederson
Walker
Stones
Otamendi
Delph
De Bruyne
Fernandinho
Silva
Sterling
Aguero
Sane
Arsenal :
Cech
Holding
Mertesacker
Koscielny
Bellerin
Xhaka
Ramsey
Monreal
Ozil
Sanchez
Lacazette
My Score Prediction :
Manchester City 2-1 Arsenal.
