Mikel Arteta vs Pep Guardiola”, Predicted Arsenal XI vs Man City – As Pep Guardiola vows to revenge last season defeat by destroying Arteta men at Etihad
Mikel Arteta vs Pep Guardiola”, Predicted Arsenal XI vs Man City – As Pep Guardiola vows to revenge last season defeat by destroying Arteta men at Etihad
After overcoming Tottenham in last Sunday’s big game, Arsenal face another difficult test away to title rivals Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium this coming weekend.
Mikel Arteta notably had to take on Spurs in the North London Derby without key duo Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice in midfield, but the latter of those two should be back for the Man City game after serving his one-match ban. Odegaard’s fitness, however, remains a bit of an open question, with the Norway international’s ankle problem initially looking pretty bad, though there ended up being some murmurings that he might actually have been close to making it back for the derby on Sunday.
How Arsenal could line up for trip to Manchester City
Barring a big surprise from Arteta, we’ll surely see Rice straight back in the starting XI for the trip to Manchester, with the England international likely to be in for one of Thomas Partey or Jorginho, while we’ll probably see Kai Havertz in midfield again if Odegaard doesn’t make it back.
Arsenal predicted line up: Raya; Saliba, Gabriel, White, Timber; Rice, Partey, Havertz; Martinelli, Trossard, Saka
Overall, that’s a pretty strong line up again for the Gunners, even if they’d ideally like to have the creativity of Odegaard for an important game like this. In some senses, however, they might do well with the extra physical presence and work rate that Havertz gives them in that position, as this is a game where they might not see as much of the ball as usual.
Manchester City expected XI to take on Arsenal
Although both clubs have Champions League commitments in midweek, there’s no doubt City have the squad to rotate a bit more than Arsenal, so they’ll surely do what they can to be at full strength, after already being able to leave the likes of Rodri and Phil Foden on the bench against Brentford last weekend.
Man City predicted line up: Ederson; Dias, Stones, Walker, Lewis; Rodri, Kovacic; Foden, De Bruyne, Savio; Haaland
It’s not always easy to know City’s best XI as one imagines there could easily also be room for big names like Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan, while it’s also not beyond Pep to tinker a bit and try something a little strange for big games.
