Manchester City are gearing up for their biggest game of the season so far against Arsenal in the Premier League.
Manchester City are seeking to make it five wins out of five in the league, and are hoping to put further distance between themselves and the Gunners.
Arsenal are already two points behind City, and will be keen to avoid that gap widening.
City could only draw 0-0 against Inter in the Champions League on Wednesday, so there will be a desire to get back to winning ways against their title rivals at the Etihad Stadium.
It’s the top two teams in the country squaring off, and it promises to be another intriguing tactical battle – and pundit Paul Merson has now given his prediction ahead of the game.
Paul Merson hails ‘incredible’ Man City depth, but predicts draw with Arsenal
The eyes of the footballing world will be on this game on Sunday.
City and Arsenal, led by Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta, have gone toe-to-toe over the past couple of seasons in the Premier League.
Games between the two are always really interesting tactical battles.
The expectation is that Arsenal will be doing a lot of defending at the Etihad, and trying to hit City on the counter. Much like Inter did on Wednesday.
For City, it will be all about being patient and trying to breach arguably the strongest defence in the league.
It will often be tight, but City always create chances.
For Paul Merson though, the spoils will be shared this weekend. Predicting a 1-1 draw, he told Sportskeeda: “No matter how suffocated they get, City always end up creating chances.
“I like John Stones and Ruben Dias together, but they don’t play with each other consistently enough like the Arsenal duo (Gabriel and William Saliba).
“Kevin De Bruyne is likely to miss this game, but City have incredible depth. My head is saying Manchester City, but my heart is saying ‘don’t get beat Arsenal’. But if I had to pick one team to win, that would be City. But I’m still going for a draw.”
Arsenal won’t want to lose
There is a very good chance that Arsenal will set up in the exact same way as they did the last time they came to the Etihad.
That contest back in March finished 0-0, with the two Gunners centre-backs playing particularly well that day.
Erling Haaland was kept very quiet and that will surely be Arsenal’s intention once again this weekend.
Arsenal will not want to lose this game and will 100% take a draw. While the new season has only just started, losing to City on Sunday – and falling five points behind – would be a big blow for them psychologically.
Arteta doesn’t want that and so, he’d likely take a point in a heartbeat.
