Sunday sees another mouthwatering matchup at Emirates Stadium as we go head-to-head with Manchester City (4.30pm UK), 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.
away day blues
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, Ederson and Ilkay Gundogan also leaving, while Jack Grealish and Manuel Akanji left on loan. £181 million of reinforcements have seen two new goalkeepers arrive in Gianluigi Donnarumma and James Trafford, plus Dutch midfield schemer Tijjani Reijnders, forward Rayan Cherki and Wolves full-back Rayan Ait-Nouri.
What the managers say
Arteta: "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 past few years], especially in the backline 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. But it has certain implications for how teams react to them." - read every word from Mikel's pre-match press conference
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 in midweek and it remains to be seen if they'll recover from their issues to feature on Sunday. Bukayo Saka 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 kept him sidelined, while Rayan Cherki damaged a hamstring that will keep him out for a couple of months.
Omar Marmoush 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 issue.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme: 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 they want to press higher with greater authority, and their five shot-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 (9) than anyone else, he is getting into great positions to score. Two more players we need to shackle closely are Jeremy Doku and Tijjani Reijnders. 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 that 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 their 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.
We haven’t lost any of our last 18 league games after playing away in Europe in midweek (W13 D5) 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 (W16 D4).
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 Díaz’s strike for Liverpool on MD36 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.
Viktor Gyokeres 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 Alexandre Lacazette in 2017.
Gyokeres 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).
Match officials
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Assistants: Constantine Hatzidakis, Nick Hopton
Fourth official: Craig Pawson
VAR: Jarred Gillett
Assistant VAR: Ian Hussin