Manchester City face title rivals Arsenal in a monumental Premier League fixture at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening.
The league’s top two sides are finally set to face off in a game that could see City go top of the table with three points against Mikel Arteta’s men.
City returned to winning ways on Sunday as goals from Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez helped seal a statement 3-1 victory over Aston Villa.
Arsenal, on the other hand, failed to win for the second week running as they were held to a controversial 1-1 draw at home by Brentford following their narrow loss to Everton.
Pep Guardiola and Manchester City can send a strong statement to the rest of the division with a result in north London amidst the noise caused by the Premier League’s recent financial sanctions.
Guardiola deployed all of Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in midfield on Sunday, reverting to a back three of Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte and Kyle Walker.
Rico Lewis and Manuel Akanji dropped to the bench following City’s 1-0 loss to Tottenham a few weeks ago, though the latter replaced Dias at half-time after the Portugal international was cautioned.
Here’s how we think the Blues will line up on Wednesday evening against the Gunners:
Ederson will keep his place between the sticks and a clean sheet would be welcome for the Brazilian, who saw Ollie Watkins pull one back for Aston Villa in the second half on Sunday.
Kyle Walker should keep his place on the right side of defence to face off against Gabriel Martinelli, who caused City all sorts of problems in Arsenal’s last-gasp defeat to the reigning champions in this fixture last term.
Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte should be positioned in the middle of defence after restoring a sense of solidity to the backline against Aston Villa, with Nathan Ake returning at left-back to cope with the threat posed by Bukayo Saka.
In midfield, Ilkay Gundogan could see himself dropped to the bench despite scoring at the weekend. Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri should line up in the middle of the park and have all the ingredients in their arsenal to cause the Gunners all sorts of problems on their day.
Jack Grealish has enjoyed his best period in sky blue since the Qatar World Cup and provided another fine display against his boyhood side on Sunday. The England international should keep his place on the left wing.
Riyad Mahrez is also in fine form and has enjoyed goalscoring success against Arsenal in the past, in Manchester City and Leicester City colours. Mahrez should start on the right wing though Pep could also turn to Phil Foden or Julian Alvarez to provide some spark to the frontline.
Erling Haaland remains a minor doubt to face the Gunners after being taken off at the interval against Villa, though the Norwegian could recover in time to start what is undoubtedly as big a Premier League as they come for City.
Predicted XI: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Ake; De Bruyne, Rodri, Silva; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish
Substitutes: Ortega, Akanji, Lewis, Gomez, Gundogan, Phillips, Alvarez, Palmer, Foden
SOURCE: cityxtra.co.uk
