Match Preview: Man City v Arsenal; Title Tilt or December Doldrums?

As Man City v Arsenal kick off, we’ll be watching two teams who desperately want to maintain pace with the top of the table Chelsea. Man City come into the match after a lackluster win versus Watford and Arsenal come in after their midweek loss to Everton.

Whatever their form, both teams will savor this match for what it offers. In Arsenal and Man City, you have two teams driven by managers who want to “play” the game. Both teams like to have a lot of the ball and have the technical players to out move the ball and create scoring chances.

Because of the investment made into City it’s become a team on the playing calendar that has at time worried Arsenal supporters but in their last 10 matches in the league, Arsenal are matched quiet even with their hosts with a record of 3W 4D 3L. If you only look at the last 4 Arsenal are 2W 2D 0L.

The fact is that because of the way the two teams like to play it matches up nicely for Arsenal. Of course, people will point to the intangible that is having Pep Guardiola managing City this time around. But even that can’t be given as much of benefit right now as his new side continue to struggle with how he likes to play.

In the elite league of Managers in the Premier League, Pep Guardiola represents the king of the hill having won 21 trophies playing his brand of football. When he signed on at City the pundits instantly crowned City title favorites. It hasn’t gone as planned.

For Arsenal and the manager, Pep glowingly called the “Commander-in-Chief” of the managers in the league, the season was supposed to be one where we failed to break into the top 4 (again). However, they have up until the loss on Tuesday been one of the form teams in the league and scoring goals at will.

The game is one that should present Arsenal with a great opportunity to beat City and continue their successful run against the sky blue lads of Manchester. In addition to still trying to figure out Pep’s possession-based game, City come into this match without the services of Kun Aguero, Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan. These are three key players to City and will sorely be missed in  a match of this stature.

So how can we do it?

The blueprint is in our recent wins versus Chelsea, United at home last season, and even the recent matches against City. It all starts with our speed and the high press.

As we’ve said, City are still coming to terms with how Pep wants them to play. They are still not comfortable playing the ball out of the back. Errant passes and poor touches litter their back 5. Decision making is another issue that is hurting the team as they try and try to come to grips with this new style of play.

Of course, the focus is on big summer purchase John Stones, while he may come good, its not wrong to say that so far he has been close to awful learning Pep’s system. It’s just such a person that Alexis Sanchez should be looking to closedown as soon as he has the ball at his feet.

It’s not just Stones, across the back 5 (the defenders and the keeper) are struggling to do anything remotely effective with the ball especially when under pressure. If Arsenal can maintain a press deep in the City defensive third, we can force errors up high hopefully winning the ball and creating overloads in and around the 18.

However, for us to be successful in this endeavor, there has to be a sustained level of intensity that comes with playing in such a manner. It was something missing from the match against Everton.

Arsenal could’ve won that match but as the match went on they failed to match the rising intensity of their hosts. In some matches they’d have enough skill and talent to see that out but as we play better sides, the intensity has to last a whole match.

Against Everton, we started our pressing game and it was effective. It was the pressing that led to the foul that ended up in the resulting free kick and goal. But as the intensity waned, the press disappeared and Everton grew into the match.

We paid for our lack of intensity and lackluster defending. Against City, who may be struggling to look like a traditional Pep-managed side, failure to maintain a consistent level of focus and commitment could hurt us again.

If we are serious about our title run this is a must win match, especially considering the loss to Everton.  We can show that the Everton was a blip and that the form preceding that match was the true nature of this iteration of Arsenal. Come out flat or lack the intensity and well – we know what to expect.

Players to Watch.
Arsenal. Alexis Sanchez. If we look to press the man leading the line is the most effective pressing player we have. His speed to close down spaces  causes troubles to all defenders.

Man City. Kevin de Bryune Maligned under Mourinho at Chelsea he is reborn and enjoying life with Pep.

Probable Lineups:

click to enlarge

Injuries and Suspensions:
Arsenal: Ramsey (toe), Debuchy (hamstring), Mertesacker (knee), Mustafi (hamstring), Welbeck (knee), Cazorla (achilles)

Man City: Kompany (knee), Gündogan (knee), Delph (groin), Agüero (suspended 3 of 4, Fernandinho (suspended 3 of 3)

Last 5:
Arsenal: DWWWL

Man City: WWLLW

Goals Scored Per Game:
Arsenal: 2.31

Man City: 2.13

Goal Conceded Per Game:
Arsenal. 1.06

Man City: 1.19

Manager’s Point of View (Courtesy Arsenal.com)

“Yes [we gave Everton hope],” said Arsène Wenger. “Maybe at 1-0 we eased off a little bit. Was that down to our physical levels or them responding a little bit? I don’t know but I feel sometimes we rushed our game a little bit and didn’t continue to play the way we want to play.

“You could see that three games out of four away from home [took its toll] and it was a difficult week. But I cannot fault the attitude and that’s what we want to keep from the game. We know we are on a long-term target and that we have to go through some disappointments. We have to live with that and recover and prepare for the next one.

It’s a bit difficult to accept the result on Tuesday but many teams can drop points at Everton. We are a strong team away from home and that’s what we want to show straight away again at Manchester City.”

Yes, Manchester City. There aren’t many tougher fixtures than a trip to the Etihad but, according to Petr Cech, it’s better to play a big game after a big disappointment. The goalkeeper describes City away as “probably a perfect game for us”, and his manager agrees.

“Look, the perfect game is the next one – always,” said Wenger. “When you’ve had a defeat, I think a defeat should not hit the confidence we have. It should just hit the pride we have and that makes us respond well.”

Match Officials:
Referee: Martin Atkinson (12M, 47Y, 2R)
Assistants: G Beswick, A Nunn
Fourth official: R Madley

Broadcast Information:
UK: Sky Sports 16.00 GMT
US: NBC Sports Network 11:00 AM EST

YAMA Predicts:
Man City 1 – 1 Arsenal

Match Facts (Courtesy FourFourTwo.com via Opta)

• The last six Premier League meetings between these two sides have produced 24 goals – four per game, on average.
• Arsenal are unbeaten in their last six games with Manchester City in all competitions (W3 D3 L0).
• Olivier Giroud has scored in four successive appearances against Manchester City in all competitions.
• Manchester City have been given eight red cards in the Premier League against Arsenal; more than they have against any other opponent.
• Arsene Wenger has won just two of his previous eight competitive meetings with Pep Guardiola (W2 D2 L4), all in the Champions League. Away from home, his record versus the Spaniard is W0 D1 L3.
• Only Chelsea (7) have won more Premier League games away at the Etihad than Arsenal (6).
• The Gunners haven’t lost consecutive Premier League away games since April 2014 (0-6 vs Chelsea, 0-3 vs Everton).
• Petr Cech has failed to keep a clean sheet in his last seven Premier League appearances; he has never gone eight successive games without a clean sheet in the competition.
• Arsenal are the only Premier League side not to be losing at half-time in the Premier League this season (winning seven times, drawing nine times).
• Alexis Sanchez has had a hand in 27 goals in his last 27 Premier League appearances for Arsenal (19 goals, 8 assists).
• Sanchez has scored 41 goals in 81 Premier League appearances for Arsenal. The only players to reach 41 goals quicker for the club in the competition were Thierry Henry (74 apps) and Ian Wright (77 apps).