Manchester City vs Arsenal: Premier League clash could come down to the match winners… Leroy Sane or Alexandre Lacazette
Pep Guardiola's rampant side are on a club record run of 14 straight victories as they entertain the Gunners
ARSENAL travel north on Sunday to face Pep Guardiola’s rampant Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.
The Gunners go into the game sitting in fifth place, outside of the Champions League places only on goal difference despite a poor start.
Yet it Arsène Wenger’s side have ambitions of closing the gap on the leading pack, this is exactly the type of fixture in which they need a statement victory.
In order to do that, however, they must beat the Premier League leaders who are currently on a club-record winning streak. So how can Gunners can succeed where others have failed this season? We let our friends at Football Whispers try to answer that one.
Arsenal have won four out of their last five league fixtures and ten of their last 13 in all competitions. The #WengerOUT calls have died down, for now at least.
Guardiola has his team flying right now, though. They’ve won nine out of their 10 league games, and became the first British club to win in Naples after their 4-2 victory over Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday.
City’s 14-straight run of victorious in all competitions is a club record and they will be strong favourites to make it 15 on Sunday.
Many outsiders would expect the North London side to try to shut up shop, sit back and frustrate the leaders, but it seems Wenger has other ideas.
“We will want to defend well but you cannot go there and only be focused on defending,” he told press on Friday. “We want to play and have the ball and create dangerous situations. The best way, sometimes, to defend 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 on the football pitch you have to accept the gamble and risk. It is part of the game.”
Despite scoring 21 goals at home, the best record in the league, Man City have conceded three, which ranks them fourth in the table, one behind Burnley.
From the last five meetings between these two sides at the Etihad, honours are even with both teams winning two. The Gunners last win was the 2-0 victory in 2015.
Arsenal have only managed six goals from five away games this term, five of them coming at Goodison Park. They failed to score in their opening three away trips.
Key Battle: Kyle Walker (Man City) v Sead Kolasinac (Arsenal)
Trying to pick a weakness in a team who have scored 35 goals in ten games and conceded just six, that is going to be as difficult a task as Arsenal face at the Etihad. But perhaps there is one chink in the armour.
Kyle Walker has improved the defensive aspect of his game since arriving in Manchester, but that doesn’t mean he is infallible.
He showed against West Brom last weekend that he can still switch off, a moment which allowed Jay Rodriguez to run through on goal to score for the Baggies.
With the way City attack and the freedom Walker has, there is space to exploit and in Kolasinac, the Gunners have the perfect weapon down the left flank.
The Bosnian international is bullish, unforgiving and a willing attacker. His left-foot has caused problems for defenders already and if they’re numbers in the box, he is capable of finding them
It will be a fascinating battle down the Gunners left and Kolasinac has the quality to punish any mistakes from the City defence.
Potential match winners: Leroy Sané (Man City) & Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal)
Leroy Sané was eased in at the Etihad following a move from Schalke, but he impressed in the second half of last season and, this term, has become on of Guardiola’s sharpest attacking weapons.
The German winger has been on fire and only looks more comfortable with every passing game. Sané’s lightning quick runs on the break have been a feature of City’s attack and cold incredibly hard to stop, especially with Nacho Monreal, Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny trying to backtrack.
In ten Premier League games, the 21-year-old has six goals and five assists, and has been involved in 15 goals in all competitions.
At the opposite end of the pitch, Arsenal will be expecting a performance from record signing Alexandre Lacazette. With five goals in ten games, it has been a positive start for the French striker, but these are the matches he was bought for.
City already know all about Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez - they are still linked with a move for Chilean - but Lacazette is the new addition and with this deadly trio only playing together for potentially the third time, there is still an element of surprise.
How they’ll line up
Football Whispers uses data to predict the starting line-ups for sides by accounting for several different factors, including injuries, suspensions, the statistical likelihood to play, the match the competition is played, the players’ previous performances and the style of the opposition.
Except from the long-term injuries to Vincent Kompany and Benjamin Mendy, it’s as you were for Manchester City and their embarrassment of riches. Pep has five fully-fit attackers to choose from and the luxury of bringing back David Silva in place of Ilkay Gundogan.
The Catalan boss will stick to his 4-3-3 and we can expect either Bernardo Silva or Gabriel Jesus to get the nod from the start.
Wenger switched things up for the draw against Red Star and the full 11 could change for Sunday’s game.
Shkodran Mustafi and Danny Welbeck are still missing for the Gunners, but the players who started the 2-1 win over Swansea could all come back in at the Etihad.
Jack Wilshere, Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott will be pushing for a place in the team, but the disappointing display at the Emirates on Thursday will likely leave them on the bench.