Pep Guardiola’s side cannot really afford another slip-up this weekend having lost two of their last three matches in the top flight. Back-to-back defeats by Chelsea and Leicester City were at least followed by a triumph against Watford in midweek, though, when efforts from Pablo Zabaleta and David Silva earned City all three points in front of their own supporters. They remain seven points adrift of leaders Chelsea heading into gameweek 17, however, and will have to be almost flawless for the remainder of the campaign if they are to climb to the summit of the standings and add another championship to the trophy cabinet.
Arsenal were defeated in the league for the first time since the opening weekend of the season last time out, going down 2-1 to Everton at Goodison Park. The Gunners started well but were disappointing for much of the encounter, with the hosts simply proving too energetic and powerful for Arsene Wenger’s side. The gap separating them from top spot now stands at a surmountable six points, but with Chelsea looking stronger than ever the north Londoners will not want to fall any further behind.
City will be without Ilkay Gundogan and Vincent Kompany, who are both sidelined with knee injuries, as well as suspended duo Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero. Guardiola opted for a more traditional 4-2-3-1 setup in midweek and could stick with that when Arsenal come to town, although Kelechi Iheanacho may replace Nolito up top to provide a more natural option at centre-forward. Yaya Toure will probably be joined by Fernando in midfield, while John Stones will be hoping to be restored to the heart of the backline alongside Nicolas Otamendi.
Arsenal, meanwhile, will be unable to call upon the services of Shkodran Mustafi, Mathieu Debuchy, Per Mertesacker, Santi Cazorla, Danny Welbeck and Chuba Akpom, but Aaron Ramsey should be fit enough to be included in the matchday squad. Despite the loss to Everton, Wenger is likely to stick with the same starting XI: Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have combined well at the top of the pitch in recent weeks, while Granit Xhaka and Francis Coquelin seem to have established themselves as the Gunners’ first-choice partnership in central midfield in Cazorla’s absence.
On balance, it is probably worth backing a draw when these two heavyweights go head-to-head at the Etihad Stadium. City were poor in the loss to Leicester but actually played well against Chelsea and have more than enough attacking firepower to hurt Arsenal on Sunday; having said that, though, the Gunners’ speed on the break means they should be able to take advantage of their opponents’ obvious weakness at the back. Overall, then, a 1-1 draw could be the way to go in this one, with Sanchez a sensible choice to score the first goal of the game.
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