Can City continue their recent dominance over Arsenal?
Arsenal v Manchester City is a fixture which generally provides good entertainment, and this Sunday’s clash looks set to be another high-octane affair.
Let’s be honest, the title race is over – at least for Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s men aren’t making up 14 points on Liverpool; I’m still not counting Leicester out, but I’m officially casting City’s title challenge to the wayside.
There’s still plenty to play for as far as Arsenal are concerned. The Gunners are seven points adrift of the Champions League spots, but with such chronic inconsistencies plaguing them, it’s hard to see how a top four finish happens now.
It’s fair to say City have had the better of Arsenal in this fixture over the last few years. Pep’s men have won their last four Premier League matches against The Gunners—scoring 11 and conceding two—although this season, we aren’t dealing the same City as the last two title-winning sides.
Two victories in five Premier League games isn’t nearly good enough, but City have now failed to keep a clean sheet in their last ten matches in all competitions, and that’s unsustainable, as results have shown.
Of course, Arsenal have never struggled to find the net—evidenced by a goal in every Emirates encounter this season—but 11 concessions in their last six home games is frankly woeful, and a victory at West Ham isn’t enough to convince me they’re up to much.
City have won their last three matches at The Emirates to nil, but things feel so different; the visitors should still take the points, but their defence (particularly with the various injuries to contend with), simply isn’t up to scratch, so an away win and both teams to score looks very much on the cards.
Furthermore, as a longer shot, I like the look of a 3-1 City win; the Mancunians have scored exactly three goals against Arsenal in four of their last five meetings, but with their newly-found porousness at the back, their likely victory could well be supplemented by a single home goal.
21/2 looks tempting.
Follow @RyanEJourno
