In to the belly of the beast


Following the morale boosting midweek victory over West Brom, Arsenal face the unenviable task of a trip to the Etihad to face Manchester City today. As tough as that already sounds, it's the lunchtime BT Sport kick off. A fixture time that never seems to end well for the Gunners with only 4 victories from our last 11 in that slot in league and cup, with one of those last seasons opener against Fulham, 2 victories against Burnley and a North London Derby victory also in the mix. Aside from the mixed results, it also means we will likely have to deal with Steve Mcmanaman and all the "for me Fletch" that comes with it for 90 minutes, as if the game itself won't be painful enough.

We should be going in to the game with a bit of confidence following our Wednesday exploits, regardless of the opposition. We are also potentially welcoming back Hector Bellerin, who would be a definite upgrade on Cedric who was about as "meh" as you can be last Sunday. The game has come to sson though for Gabriel, who made a return for the U23s against Sp*rs yesterday, and Ben White is also likely ot miss out again following his bout of COVID. I wouldn't be surprised to see us go to a back three to try and nullify the threat of City as best as possible. I think adding Tavares on the left of the midfield 4 would add defensive solidity, but he also has shown he has the energy to get up and down the pitch in his brief appearances. We saw on Wednesday that Xhaka was able to exploit a high line with his balls over the top in to space for the forward players, and I would expect there to be similar space left by Manchester City. It could be our best route to goal.

My lineup v Man City

As Far as Manchester City go, after an opening day loss against Spurs, they rebounded with the fixture that I expect most teams will want after a loss; home to Norwich and a comfortable 5-0 win. They come in to this fixture without the injured Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden. There have also been the off field issues surrounding Benjamin Mendy this week, which leave him somewhat unavailable for the foreseeable future. On a footballing note, that is a shame to me, as he is a player that I felt we could exploit. He will likely be replaced by the more reliable Oleksander Zinchenko. It remains to be seen if Mendy's issues affect the rest of the squad psychologically in any way.

It's a game that not many people give us a chance in, with us as long as 12/1 in the odds with some bookies. With that in mind, I'm going in to the game with low expectations in terms of result, but high expectations in terms of effort, application and a sensible tactical plan from Arteta. In the corresponding fixture last year he started Willian as some sort of false 9. Hopefully he won't be s foolish to try something similar today.

Until the next one... 


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