Arsenal vs Man City Preview, Team News, Likely Line-ups & Predictions

Arsenal will look to keep in touch with the top four as they welcome champions Manchester City to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

We head into the game trailing the visitors by 11 points but can close to within three points of fourth-placed Tottenham with a win this weekend after they drew 0-0 with QPR on Saturday.

City will be under pressure for all three points themselves and they could be 10 points off league leaders Manchester United by the time we kick off if United beat Liverpool at Old Trafford in Sunday’s earlier game.

Laurent Koscielny was the unlikely hero in the reverse fixture back in September when he secured a well-deserved 1-1 draw at the Etihad, and I’ve got the feeling we could be in for another tight encounter on Sunday.

Team News

Arsene Wenger is sweating on the fitness of striker Olivier Giroud, who hasn’t trained all week due to a nasty cut on his leg picked up against Swansea last weekend. He’ll be given a late fitness test but is likely to be on the bench as Theo Walcott continues up front.

Andre Santos and Abou Diaby could be in contention after successfully returning to action for the under-21’s in midweek, but Lukasz Fabianski is still out. I’d expect Laurent Koscielny to come in for Per Mertesacker after the Germans disappointing display against the Swans in the FA Cup.

City arrive without striker Sergio Aguero who is suffering from a hamstring strain, so Eden Dzeko is likely to start up front with Carlos Tevez just behind. Midfield power-house Yaya Toure and former Gunner Kolo Toure are also missing as the brothers are away with the Ivory Coast squad preparing for the African Cup of Nations.

Another former Arsenal star – Samir Nasri – is also absent as he completes a three-game suspension. Left-back Aleksandar Kolarov is back in contention after recovering from a knee complaint but Maicon, Micah Richards and Jack Rodwell are all out.

Likely Line-ups

Betting Preview and Predictions

We have a surprisingly good record against the champions, especially at home where City haven’t scored in their last five visits. The guys over at Betegy have crunched the numbers and their prediction software foresees a tight low-scoring game, with the draw seen as the most likely outcome at 35%:

The draw is currently a 2/1 shot but if betting on the exact score-line is more your thing, Betegy predict there is a 33% chance Arsenal will score 1 goal and a 36% chance City will score a single effort, making it at 33% chance the final score will be 1-1. You can currently get odds of 13/2 with William Hill for that score-line.

Why not head over to Betegy and see what all the fuss is about? It’s free to join and you’ll receive free and accurate predictions for games throughout Europe every week. They have an excellent success rate so far so why not give it a try?

What would your line up be and what’s your score prediction for the game? Get involved in the comments section below.