20:00 Friday

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City face off against Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal for the first time this season in the FA Cup fourth round after doing the double over the Gunners last season.

With the two teams yet to face in the Premier League, this match doubles up as a dress rehearsal for two dramatic, high quality matches upcoming in the league.

Manchester City vs Arsenal Bet Builder Stats

  • Arsenal have won six of their last seven games in all competitions, including beating Tottenham and Manchester United in their last two games
  • Bukayo Saka has four goal contributions in his last five Premier League matches, including a goal against Manchester United in their last game
  • Arsenal have averaged 6.2 corners per game from their last five games in the Premier League

 

Manchester City vs Arsenal Bet Builder Tips

Bet Builder: Arsenal to win, Over 4.5 Arsenal corners and Bukayo Saka to score anytime @ 22/1 on 888Sport

Arsenal have been the standout team from this season, leading the way in the Premier League and are still taking part in three competitions. 

Arguably their toughest test of the season so far will see them travel to the Etihad Stadium, a ground where on their last visit back in August 2021, they were demolished 5-0 and any hope for the season had evaporated before the second half had even kicked off. They arrive in Manchester a completely different team, full of confidence and optimism.

Manchester City have been unimpressive by their immaculate standards as of late. Back to back defeats against Southampton and Manchester United were followed by a poor first half showing against Spurs, which saw them booed off at half-time with the score at 0-2.

However, in typical Guardiola fashion they came back to win 4-2, before seeing off Wolves 3-0 last weekend at the Etihad. They remain on the hunt for silverware, but Pep may have his eye on the one trophy that has eluded him and Manchester City - the Champions League.

With that in mind, this may be an opportunity for Pep to rest key players, such as Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne. If he does, we could see Arsenal edging the win, as we are sure Arteta will be keen to win the first potential mind games of the season.

Arsenal have also been quite industrious with their corner taking, having picked up an average of 6.2 corners in their last five league games. 

They were able to pick up 12 corners at home to Manchester United, and while we might not see a similar number at the Etihad, we can definitely see them at least getting half of those, keeping them around about their average of 6.2 corners over the last few games.

It is also important to factor in that Wolves took note of this, as they had seven corners in their 3-0 defeat last weekend. With the quality and directness Arsenal have amongst their ranks, we could see the Gunners picking up over 4.5 corners.

To complete the Bet Builder, we have picked out a Bukayo Saka goal anytime in the match. As we stated earlier, Arteta will see this as a great opportunity to name a strong side and make it into the fifth round of the FA Cup. Saka was electric against Manchester United, cutting in from the right hand side and scoring in the far corner to give the Gunners a 2-1 lead in the second half. 

With regular left back Joao Cancelo falling out of the Manchester City side, Pep has opted for one of Nathan Ake or Sergio Gomez as his left back when operating in a back four. 

If Saka can get the better of Luke Shaw, who has been solid as of late, we can see a similar scene between one of Guardiola’s options and the Arsenal winger. 

Arsenal have only received one penalty in the Premier League this season, and that was dispatched by Saka, so should they be fortunate enough to get one we could see the Englishman netting once again from the spot, which gives him a bigger chance of getting on the scoresheet.