Man City vs. Arsenal
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Kick off: 5pm
In the final round of Premier League fixtures before Christmas, arguably the pick of the matches comes at the Etihad Stadium today as Manchester City host Arsenal.
It all started so well for Man City under Pep Guardiola, with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss winning his first 10 matches in charge of the club in all competitions.
Guardiola’s warnings that he would need time to adapt to the style of English football at that point seemed to be unnecessary modesty, but now it looks like realism with City having floundered in recent months.
Since their perfect start to the season came to an end at the hands of Celtic in the Champions League, City have won just five of their 16 matches across all competitions and have only strung consecutive wins together once in that time.
However, they do have a chance to make it two victories in the space of four days this weekend having returned to winning ways against Watford on Wednesday, with Pablo Zabaleta and David Silva getting the goals in a 2-0 win.
That came after back-to-back league defeats at the hands of Chelsea and Leicester City respectively, and having also lost to Tottenham Hotspur this season, another defeat to an expected top-four rival could leave them 10 points off the top on Christmas Day.
Wednesday’s win over Watford was their first at home in the Premier League since September – they have actually fared better away from home under Guardiola – and also saw them keep just their second clean sheet in their last 18 matches in all competitions.
For many, this season is shaping up to be Arsenal’s best chance of winning the Premier League title since the Invincibles of 2003-04.
Arsene Wenger’s side may have finished second last season, but they never really looked like challenging eventual champions Leicester City as their wait for the title extended to 12 years.
Chelsea may be setting the pace at the moment, but the Gunners have already successfully negotiated one of their usual stumbling blocks by passing through November unbeaten despite facing the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain.
Indeed, Arsenal were doing a good job of keeping up with the rampant league leaders until Tuesday night, when their title bid suffered a setback with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Everton, who had won just one of their previous 11 games before coming from behind at Goodison Park.
Arsenal have not lost back-to-back Premier League games since March, and that record extends back to April 2014 when it comes to consecutive away games in the league, although it is now 11 matches in all competitions since they last kept a clean sheet.
No team has scored more or conceded fewer goals away from home than Arsenal this term, and the midweek defeat to Everton was their first on the road in any competition since losing to Barcelona in the Champions League in March.
Victory at the home of one of their main rivals would be the perfect way to bounce back from that disappointment and, with matches against West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Swansea City and Watford to come after this weekend, it could be the start of a good run well into the New Year.
Man City possible XI:
Bravo; Sagna, Otamendi, Stones, Clichy; Toure, Fernando, Sane, De Bruyne, Silva; Iheanacho
Arsenal possible XI:
Cech; Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal; Elneny, Xhaka, Walcott, Ozil, Iwobi; Sanchez
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