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Media. Here is a preview of the match between
Arsenal and Manchester City. Sunday sees another
mouth -watering match -up at Emirates Stadium
as we go head -to -head with Manchester City
at 4 .30pm UK time. looking to continue our excellent
form against Pep Guardiola's side. We are unbeaten
in our last five matches against the Citizens,
and after February's unforgettable 5 -1 victory,
we're looking to win back -to -back league games
against City for the first time since December
2015. Mikel Arteta could also become the first
manager ever to go five league games unbeaten
against Guardiola during his mentor's illustrious
managerial career. But more importantly to our
boss will be the chance to gain a statement win
over a title rival as we continue to navigate
our way through a tricky start opening six games
to this campaign. For the first time since 2020
-21, City start the campaign not as reigning
champions and they have suffered a slow start
to the season once again. A 4 -0 opening day
demolition of Wolves was followed by successive
defeats at Brighton and then by Tottenham Hotspur
on their own patch. But a comfortable 3 -0 derby
day success over Manchester United helped settle
any early season discontent. Their Champions
League campaign got up and running on Thursday
night when they beat 10 -man Napoli 2 -0 at the
Etihad Stadium, with Erling Haaland netting his
11th goal so far for club and country. But City's
away form sees them come into this one having
won just six of their last 17 league trips. The
midweek matchup saw them go up against Kevin
De Bruyne following his departure in the summer,
with fellow icons Kyle Walker, Edison and Ilkay
Gondokwan also leaving, while Jack Grealish and
Manuel Akanji left on loan. 181 million of reinforcements
have seen two new goalkeepers arrive in Juan
Luigi Donnarumma and James Trafford, plus Dutch
midfield Shima Tijani Reinders, forward Ryan
Cherky and Wolves fullback Ryan Aitnori. Mikel
Arteta's pre -Manchester City press conference.
It's about winning again and creating another
good moment for us. The consistency, competing
against one of the best teams in the world and
a good test for us to see our level. They have
changed quite a bit over the last few years,
especially in the back line and they recruited
Erling Haaland as well. We've modified a few
things because of the quality of the midfield,
which is normal. And there is a tendency in football,
especially because of the way teams are defending.
It has certain implications for how teams react
to them. Guardiola. The last 15 -20 minutes in
the 5 -1 was a disaster. We forgot to do what
we have to do. After that, it was easy for them.
Hopefully this season we can make more of a challenge
because Mikel is an extraordinary manager. It
is one of the toughest opponents you can find
right now in Europe. Step by step, window by
window, Arsenal is getting better. Last season
in Europe, they made an incredible step forward.
For me, it is the most solid team. They don't
make mistakes. We'll see what we have to do and
how players are fit. And we try to complete and
be a better team than last season, especially
in the last 20 -25 minutes. Team news. Martin
Odegaard and Ben White missed the trip to Bilbao
midweek and it remains to be seen if they'll
recover from their issues to feature on Sunday.
But Kai Osako is also still recovering from his
hamstring injury, while Kai Havertz and Gabriel
Jesus' knee injuries see them sidelined for the
foreseeable future. One piece of good news was
the return of William Saliba to our matchday
squad against Athletic Club in midweek, meaning
he is an option to slot into our backline should
Arteta opt to add him in. Two of City's summer
signings have had their start curtailed, with
Ait Nouri picking up an ankle injury on his debut,
which has seen him sidelined. While Ryan Shirky
damaged a hamstring that would keep him out for
a couple of months, Omar Mahmoud sustained a
knee injury playing for Egypt, and is set to
miss a couple more weeks, and Mateo Kovacic is
still rehabbing following Achilles surgery. Having
missed the majority of last season, Rodri could
be rested after starting both games this week,
but John Stones is available again after he was
forced to withdraw from England duty with a muscle
injury. Talking tactics. City have started this
campaign in a 4 -1 -4 -1 formation, with two
attacking midfielders either side of fit -again
Rodri. We have also seen one of their wingers
drift inside when they build from the back, creating
a box of four inside the engine room, designed
to create overloads or to drag an opposition
defender away from the last line. This season,
they seem prepared to bypass the press with a
higher number of long -range passes, and Gianluigi
Donnarumma's arrival feels like an indication
that playing short from the back is no longer
essential. There are also signs that they want
to press higher with greater authority and their
five short -ending high turnovers are the second
most in the division. Haaland's 19 shots in four
games place him top of the Premier League rankings
by seven and with three more big chances in nine.
than anyone else he is getting into great positions
to score two more players we need to shackle
closely are jeremy doku and tijani rinders the
latter is terrific at making late runs into the
box while doku is a fine dribbler Have City cured
the off -the -ball problems they experienced
in 2024 -25? It feels like it is a work in progress.
They still look vulnerable to turnovers and counter
-attacks and have struggled to handle quality
pressing on occasion. So it's important that
we get that aspect of our play spot on. Fact
and stats. We have won our last three Premier
League home games by an aggregate score of 9
-0. We last won four in a row without conceding
in December 2021, while we last won our first
home games in a season without conceding in 1960
-61. Manchester City have lost five of their
last seven Premier League games immediately following
a midweek European game, including their 5 -1
loss to us in February. Their previous five such
defeats came over a period of 46 games in five
years. any of our last 18 league games after
playing away in Europe in midweek, won 13 and
drawn 5 since a 1 -0 loss to City in February
2021. We haven't lost a home Premier League game
in September since 2012, going unbeaten in 20
such matches since then, winning 16 and drawing
4. We are one of just two teams yet to concede
a goal from open play in the Premier League this
season alongside Fulham. We've gone six games
in a row without doing so. since Luis Diaz's
strike for Liverpool on matchday 36 last season.
Erling Haaland has scored four goals in six Premier
League appearances against us, while he has 19
goals in 20 league games in London. Victor Jokeres
has scored in both of his Premier League home
games for us. The only player to score in each
of his first three for us in the competition
was Alexander Lacazette in 2017. Jokeres has
applied more pressures in the final third than
any other player in the Premier League this season,
166. Meanwhile, Haaland has applied the most
pressures in the opponent's penalty area, 65.
The match officials. Rob Jones will be the man
in the middle on Sunday, having refereed us just
once last term. The 2 -0 loss at Bournemouth
where he sent off William Saliba and handed the
Cherries a penalty. We had been unbeaten in all
six of the matches he had overseen prior to that,
while the Merseyside had seen City win all nine
times under his watch until last term when they
lost at Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup and
drew at Crystal Palace. Jones has handled two
top -flight matches this season, the last of
which was the game between Chelsea and Fulham
which saw VAR liaise with the referee to rule
out a Cottage's goal and award a penalty against
them. Referee, Rob Jones. Assistant, Neil Davies.
Nick Greenhalgh. Fourth official, Farai Halam.
VAR, Matt Donoghue. Assistant VAR, Tim Robinson.
Recent visits from City. In 2024, Arsenal won
5 -1. Last season's incredible 5 -1 success means
City have lost on their last two Premier League
visits to Emirates Stadium, as many as their
previous 14. That glorious February afternoon
saw goals from Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey,
Miles Lewis -Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Wanyeri
complete a massive scoreline against the four
-time reigning champions. The campaign before
was settled by a deflected Gabriel Martinelli
strike with four minutes remaining in October
2023 as we ended a 12 -game losing streak homing
away against City. Guardiola's team lost one
-an -hour patch the previous February when Kevin
De Bruyne opened the scoring before Saka levelled
from the penalty spot, but strikes from Jack
Grealish and Haaland won the game for the visitors.