Man City vs Arsenal preview | Latest team news | Expected line-up’s | Prediction

Manchester City will be looking to get back to winning ways and close the gap at the top of the table when they take on Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon. 

City wasted the chance to put some real pressure on Liverpool after slumping to a disappointing 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Tuesday night but luckily for Pep Guardiola’s men the leaders were held to a 1-1 by Leicester the following day.

Man City are now five points adrift of Liverpool and dropped to third after Tottenham’s win today but they can regain second with a win and close the gap to two points ahead of the Merseysiders’ trip to West Ham on Monday night.

Arsenal on the other hand head to the Etihad off the back of a hard fought 2-1 victory over Cardiff that saw them briefly climb in to fourth place but Chelsea moved three points clear with a win over Huddersfield today so Unai Emery will be desperate for a positive result tomorrow.

Team news

City will be without defender Vincent Kompany due to injury but goalkeeper Ederson is expected to be fit despite picking up a minor knee injury in midweek.

Benjamin Mendy is once again ruled out but otherwise Guardiola has a fully-fit squad to choose from.

Arsenal have been boosted by the news that Laurent Koscielny has returned to full training after making a swift recovery from a jaw injury that he sustained against Man Utd last month.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles could return from a minor knee injury while Henrikh Mkhitaryan is back in contention after recovering from a fractured foot. However, Danny Welbeck, Sokratis, Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding remain out.

New signing Denis Suarez is expected to be named in the squad but a place on the bench is likely.

Expected line-ups

Predicted score

Man City 3-1 Arsenal: Arsenal have lost 7 of their last 11 visits to the Etihad and have tasted defeat in 11 of their previous 19 Premier League away games so this is going to be a huge task for the Gunners. Arsenal’s defence has been very poor this season and injuries haven’t helped so I can’t see past a home win tomorrow. The visitors do possess a lot of attacking threat so they might nick a goal but City should score at least three.