Match Preview: Arsenal vs Man City

Our pursuit of the Premier League title continues as we look to keep our unbeaten home record intact when we face Manchester City on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City have been our Achilles' heel for the past two seasons, pipping us to the title on both occasions. What was once an amicable rivalry has now evolved into an intense battle, producing its fair share of drama.
We find ourselves six points ahead of the Citizens who have been drained of confidence this season. We'll need to replicate last season's result in this fixture to ensure we keep pace with league leaders Liverpool.
Complacent City?
Manchester City started the season in typical 'City' fashion, remaining undefeated in their opening nine matches. However, things quickly unraveled. Five straight defeats – for the first time in Pep's illustrious career – revealed that his team were starting to show cracks we've not seen before.
The turmoil continued when City infamously let a 3-0 lead slip against Feyenoord in the Champions League, followed by a painful loss to Liverpool at Anfield. Although they managed to put Forest aside, they were bested by Juventus and suffered a tough festive period with two draws and two defeats, leaving them with just one win from their last 13 matches.
Despite their form towards the end of 2024, City find themselves in the top four and undefeated in the league since the turn of the year. It's widely acknowledged that Guardiola and City possess an incredible ability to put together an unbeaten run when it matters most. While they may have missed their chance at a fifth consecutive title, they remain strong favourites in their remaining domestic competitions.
What the manager says
Mikel Arteta:
On how the rivalry has developed between Arsenal and Man City: "Normal. It's two teams trying to win."
On how decisive this result could be in the title race: "It would be a big boost for us. Winning big matches is always something special. Every time we play a big match against one of our big rivals, it brings something extra – the confidence, the emotion, the fact they are there and continue to win – for that we want to achieve."
On Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly's progression: "First of all, they earned the right for us to trust them, that's certainly the case with those two. In pre-season we probably wouldn't have projected how many minutes those two were going to play in the league and in the Champions League, probably we wouldn't be talking about the numbers that they have already achieved. That's again credit to them and everybody that is contributing to that, and if they continue to perform, they will continue to play."
On the referee's importance on Sunday: "He needs to do his job the best he possibly can, like each of us have to do. It is nothing new, nothing special. We're just going to focus on what we have to do from our side to be better than city and try to beat them."
Team News
David Raya missed our midweek Champions League encounter in Girona with a muscular injury. Brazilian goalkeeper Neto made his debut in Raya's absence. It'll be an anxious wait for Arsenal fans to see if Raya will return for Sunday's clash.
Myles Lewis-Skelly will be available after the red card he received against Wolves was rescinded.
Right-sided English duo Bukayo Saka and Ben White remain out due to respective hamstring and knee injuries.
Guardiola confirmed that Ruben Dias, Jeremy Doku and Nathan Ake will not be fit in time for Sunday's meeting.
Ballon D'Or winner Rodri is still recovering from the ACL injury he suffered in the reverse fixture earlier this season.
Kyle Walker made the move to Italy as he joined AC Milan on loan earlier this week.
Statistics and Facts
Our 12 goals from set-pieces are the most of any team in the Premier League (excluding penalties).
We won this exact fixture 1-0 last season. The last time we won consecutive home league games against City was between 2005-06 and 2008-09, a run of four straight victories.
It has now been 13 Premier League matches since our last defeat (W8, D5). We have also won the most points of any side from matchday 11 onwards, with 29 points.
Since Arteta's first Premier League game in charge of Arsenal, we have received more red cards than any other side (19). Despite this, we rank 23rd of the 27 teams to feature in that time for fouls per game.
City have lost just one of their last 40 Premier League matches played between January and the end of the season, a 1-0 defeat to Brentford on the final day of 2022-23.
Erling Haaland has scored five goals in his last five Premier League appearances for Man City, two more than he managed in his previous 13.
Only Newcastle (15) have bettered City's 14 points since Christmas Day, while City are the top scorers in that time with 18.
Match Officials
Peter Bankes will officiate our clash with Manchester City on Sunday.
He has previously taken charge of two of our games this season – a 1-0 win away at Brentford on New Year's Day and a 3-0 victory in the League Cup over Preston.
The last time he oversaw a Man City game was in December, when they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.
He has shown over 4 cards per game in the Premier League this season.
Referee: Peter Bankes
Assistants: Eddie Smart, Nick Greenhalgh
Fourth Official: Anthony Taylor
VAR: Paul Tierney
Assistant VAR: Craig Taylor