Manchester City will face Arsenal under interim manager Freddie Ljungberg in a battle of Big Six sides with a porous defensive record on Sunday.
Manchester City head to North London to take on Arsenal for the first real test the Gunners have had in the post-Unai Emery era, which has only yielded a victory over a struggling West Ham to this point.
City will be heavy favorites in this match due to the skill of the Blues’ attack when contrasted with the weakness in the Arsenal defense. However, Sergio Agüero and in all likelihood David Silva will miss the match, and City’s weakened defense will be forced to cope with the dangers of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, and Nicolas Pépé. However, under both Emery and Ljungberg, the Gunners typically do not start all three of their attacking triumvirate in an attempt to add some balance to the team.
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Given both sides’ defensive issues, there should be goals in this game. City need a result to be able to keep pace with Leicester City in second, while Arsenal are desperately chasing the top four and currently sit in ninth position, seven points behind Chelsea. City will control the ball in this match and will likely win the midfield battle, but must once again be extremely wary of Arsenal’s pace on the counter-attack, something they failed to do in the Manchester Derby defeat.
Once again the attacking load will fall upon Gabriel Jesus, fresh off a midweek hat-trick against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League. While he struggled against United, this will be an real chance to make his mark against big Premier League opposition, despite the current state of this Arsenal team.
City do face a difficult task in this match, but have all the requisite firepower to go blow-for-blow with Arsenal. With the Gunners’ season in real danger, both sides are desperate for three points here and should provide for one of the weekend’s most exciting matches.
Prediction: Manchester City 4-2 Arsenal