Man City vs Arsenal: Preview, Preferred Line-up & Predicted Score

Arsenal face league leaders Man City at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow afternoon. What a game this promises to be. The Gunners won the corresponding fixture last season 3-0 after City went down to 10-men early on. How the Arsenal faithful would love a similar scoreline tomorrow!

City may be flying-high but they lost their first game of the season last weekend after Chelsea beat them 2-1 at Stamford Bridge despite Balotelli putting them ahead after just 3 minutes. Arsenal have won seven of their last 8 and are in excellent form going in to the game.

Team News:

Arsene Wenger has the same squad available as he did for last weeks Everton game. The toothless Toffee’s failed to test the Gunners defence and i expect City will have identified the full backs as a place they could have some joy. Vermaelen is our best centre back but due to injuries to Gibbs and Santos, the Belgian will have to once again fill in on the left.

I have no worries about the Verminator, it’s the other side I have concerns about. Djourou. He is the weakest link and if Aguero and Silva identify the Swiss defender we could be in trouble. Johan will have to be on top form to contain the City attack, which has amassed an incredible 49 goals in 15 games so far. The ever-improving Koscielny and Mertesacker will continue in the middle.

No changes are expected for the game, so the front six will have a familiar look to it.

Predicted Arsenal Team:

Szczesny

Djourou     Mertesacker    Koscielny     Vermaelen

Song            Arteta

Walcott             Ramsey           Gervinho

Van Persie

Predicted Score:

Let’s not kid ourselves here, this is going to be an extremely tough match and a point should be considered a good result. Of course we have the potential to take all three points but the key could be how the defence and midfield cope with the movement and creativity of Aguero and Silva. I predict a score draw here, most likely 1-1.