Arsenal face league leaders Manchester City on Sunday in a match which will go some way to finding out how close the Gunners are to their title rivals.
Arsene Wenger’s side go into the game at the Etihad Stadium in a good run of form following consecutive victories against Everton and Swansea.
Arsenal 6/1 to beat City with dabblebet
However, they have a mighty task upon their hands against Pep Guardiola’s delightful attacking outfit, who have been lauded for their own style and method of playing in recent months.
Guardiola, just like Wenger, has been nominated for Premier League manager of the month and will take comfort in the fact that his record against the Frenchman currently stands at four wins in five home games in all competitions.
ARSENAL INJURIES
Danny Welbeck, Shkodran Mustafi, Calum Chambers and David Ospina are out until after the upcoming international break and Santi Cazorla is unlikely to be involved in first-team matters until the turn of the year.
ARSENAL SUSPENSIONS
Arsenal have no players suspended for this game.
ARSENAL POTENTIAL STARTING LINE-UP
Wenger is likely to stick with the same line-up which saw off Everton a fortnight ago, where Alexis, Ozil and Lacazette started their first competitive game in attack together.
The defence is likely to remain the same with Nacho Monreal, Laurent Koscielny and captain Per Mertesacker occupying the centre back slots, while Shkodran Mustafi is not yet fully recovered from injury.
Hector Bellerin and Sead Kolasinac will start in the wing-back roles and Granit Xhaka looks set to partner Aaron Ramsey in midfield.
MAN CITY TEAM NEWS
Manchester City are without captain Vincent Kompany, who is back in training but will not be fit in time for the match.
Benjamin Mendy is City’s other notable absentee as he continues to make his recovery from a knee injury.
Guardiola’s side have conceded goals in their recent wins over West Brom and Napoli and it’s clear that Wenger’s men will have to maintain a disciplined approach between attacking and defending if they are to get anything from the league game.
BEST OPTA MATCH FACTS
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Manchester City have only won one of their last nine matches against Arsenal in all competitions (D4 L4), with that victory coming in this exact fixture last season.
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Arsenal’s 2-0 victory at the Etihad in January 2015 remains the Gunners’ only away Premier League victory against the ‘big six’ since the start of the 2014/15 season (D7 L9).
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Manchester City have won all nine of their Premier League games in which they’ve led this season, while Arsenal have won the most games (3) and points (9) from losing positions so far.
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The Gunners have won just 17 of the 45 away points available to them in 2017, winning five, drawing two and losing eight of their 15 games on the road.
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Pep Guardiola has won four of his five home meetings with Arsene Wenger in all competitions (D1) – his sides have never kept a clean sheet in that run but have scored 15 goals to Arsenal’s 5.
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Coming into this matchday, Leroy Sane has been involved in more goals than any other Premier League player this season (6 goals, 5 assists). The German scored both home and away against the Gunners in the Premier League last season.
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Sergio Aguero has scored five goals in his last seven matches for Manchester City against Arsenal in all competitions.
TV COVERAGE & KICK-OFF TIME
The match is being televised on Sky Sports Main Event in the UK and kicks off at 14:15 BST.
