Arsenal host Manchester City on Super Sunday unbeaten in the last three Premier League meetings against the reigning champions. They are looking for successive home wins against them for the first time since 2009.
The Gunners remain the only team unbeaten on home soil in the division this season and, while Manchester City won 6-0 at Ipswich in their last Premier League away game, they have won just two of their last 12 games on the road in all competitions.
Pep Guardiola’s team have won just one away game this season against a team currently 13th or higher. They have lost eight of their last 12 away games in all competitions having remained unbeaten in their previous 21 such games.
While Arsenal remain unbeaten in the last three league meetings between the teams, they had lost each of the previous 12 in a row, taking just one point from a possible 42 following Guardiola’s appointment in 2016.
For the third successive season, Manchester City trail Arsenal heading into the second meeting of the campaign between the teams. In 2022/23 they closed the gap on leaders Arsenal to two points with a 4-1 home win, winning their subsequent five games in a row to win the title with two games remaining.
Last season, Man City embarked on a faultless end to the season following a goalless draw at the Etihad against Arsenal in March. They won their final nine Premier League games to pip Arsenal to the crown on the final day of the season.
Since Arsenal emerged as title contenders during the 2022/23 season, there has been very little to separate the two teams.
Arsenal find themselves in the unusual position of chasing down the league leaders as we approach the home stretch of the season; they have been fending off Manchester City at this stage in the last two campaigns.
If they are to close the gap on Liverpool, who appear to have a more challenging fixture list on paper, they will need to address their poor form against the top-half teams.
The Gunners will be somewhat buoyed by their fixture list, especially away from home. They only have two remaining away league games against teams in the top half, while six of Liverpool’s remaining eight Premier League away games are against teams currently tenth or higher.
With Bukayo Saka’s absence likely to rule him out of Arsenal’s next six league games at the very least, they will hope to have their first-choice midfield trio available for an extended period.
Since Declan Rice swapped east for north London in 2023, he has only started in a midfield trio with Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard on 11 occasions in the league. Arsenal have nine wins and two draws from those games, the draw coming against Brighton after Rice’s controversial red card early in the second half.
The other draw came at Stamford Bride in November, when Odegaard was making his first start in 10 weeks and Rice was reportedly nursing a broken toe.
Man City will not have the fortune of calling on their first-choice midfield on Sunday, with Rodri’s season seemingly over.
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They will hope that Erling Haaland can maintain his recent return to form, with six goals in his last six appearances following a run of one goal in his previous seven.
The Norwegian’s league form – by his lofty standards – has been patchy since Arsenal visited the Etihad Stadium in September. His goal that day made it 10 in five Premier League appearances this season. He has only scored eight goals in 18 league appearances since.
Haaland travels to London one shy of 250 club career goals. If he scores against Arsenal, he will achieve the landmark in 15 games fewer than it took Lionel Messi, and 140 games fewer than Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Haaland has scored three goals in seven appearances for Manchester City against Arsenal, although he only has one goal in his last four games against them. He will be coming up against the best defence in the division over the past two seasons, and arguably the best in Europe.
While Arsenal’s defence has maintained standards even as their attack has struggled at times this season, City have seen a notable decline in their defensive statistics over the last three league campaigns.
Both Arsenal and City will feel varying degrees of frustration at how their seasons have gone so far. A win for either team could be the perfect launchpad as we enter the final third of the season, with both still involved in three competitions.
