The Matchday-3 of the 2020/21 Premier League season kicks off this Saturday with defending champions Manchester City hosting Arsenal.
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Key Statistics
Manchester City have beaten Arsenal in five straight home games.
Since Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City, there has been 49 Premier League games won by a margin of 5+ goals; Pep’s side are responsible for 23 of these (47%).
Arsenal have failed to win or score in their first two Premier League games for the first time in 118 years of English top-flight football.
The Gunners ended in the relegation zone after Matchday-2 of the season played, for the first time since August 1992.
Head to head
Manchester City have five of the last six meetings between both teams. Arsenal have only one win in that same period.
Latest Performances
Man City: W-L-L-W-W (Goals for 14, against 3)
Arsenal: W-L-L-L-L (Goals for 7, against 7)
Manchester City
After losing two of their opening games of the season, Manchester City got back to winning ways last weekend. Guardiola’s side put their woes behind them by beating Norwich City 5-0 in their second league game of the season.
They will now look to build on that win when they welcome the Gunners to the Etihad.
However, the Cityzens have not been on such a good run of form lately and are heading into this tie with just three losses from their last five competitive games. Although they have won big against smaller teams, they have found it difficult to win against the ‘so-called’ ‘big boys’.
But considering the form of their opponent, the hosts will fancy their chances of winning in this game.
Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden remain absent from Guardiola’s squad due to injuries.
Possible Manchester City starting line-ups
Ederson Moraes, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Jack Grealish, Gabriel Jesus, Ferran Torres, Raheem Sterling.
Arsenal
On Wednesday, Arsenal put their recent poor run of losses behind them by beating West Brom six-nil in the Carabao Cup.
Captain Aubameyang scored a hat-trick on his first start of the season after sitting out the first two games due to the COVID-19 outbreak in the squad, which has contributed to undermining Arsenal’s start to the season.
Mikel Arteta‘s side will now look to kick on from that win and record their first win of the league season in this game.
But they must avoid defensive errors and improve in front of the goal if they are to get anything from this game.
However, their poor record at the Etihad suggests that they will be in for a long day, as they have lost their last five meetings at the venue.
Possible Arsenal starting line-ups
For Arteta, Eddie Nketiah, Willian, Runar Alex Runarsson, Gabriel Magalhaes, Thomas Partey, Ben White, Kieran Tierney and want-away defender Hector Bellerin are all injury doubts for this tie.
Bernd Leno, Calum Chambers, Rob Holding, Pablo Mari, Nuno Tavares, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Granit Xhaka, Nicolas Pepe, Martin Odegaard, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette
Prediction
Arsenal have found their groove just in time by winning West Brom by such a large margin.
However, the quality of Man City might be too much for them to break down. Also, Guardiola seems to have a psychological advantage over the Gunners and look the most capable of winning this game.
