Date: Saturday, December 14 Venue: Etihad Stadium Kick-Off: 12:45 Can Manchester City continue their superior home form and close the gap on Arsenal when they play host to the Premier League leaders on Saturday afternoon?
Team News
Manchester City are expected to recall Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero on Saturday, with the trio being rested in the mid-week Champions League win over Bayern Munich. Michah Richards is likely to miss out, as the right-back appeared to suffer a muscular injury in that game. Arsenal could be without defender Bacary Sagna, who is nursing a hamstring problem, while Lukas Podolski is fit after three months out with a hamstring injury of his own, but lacks match fitness and is unlikely to feature. (bbc)
Key Stats
Arsenal have only won one of their last six league and cup games against Manchester City, and have failed to score in six of the previous nine meetings in all competitions. City are undefeated at home in the Premier League this season, a run of five matches. The Gunners have the division's best away record with 16 points - twice City's tally on the road. Manuel Pellegrini's side have lost eight points from winning positions this season - the second highest tally in the top flight behind Sunderland (11).
Likely Line-Ups
Man City Pantilimon, Kolarov, Demichelis, Kompany, Zabaleta, Toure, Fernandinho, Nasri, Aguero, Navas, Negredo Arsenal Szczesny, Gibbs, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Jenkinson, Wilshere, Flamini, Cazorla, Ozil, Ramsey, Giroud
Match Preview
Manchester City vs Arsenal - already it has the feel to it that this could be one of the best games of the season, even though we haven't yet welcomed in the New Year. First placed Arsenal can stretch their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points in Saturday's lunchtime kick-off, while City will feel they have to win just to close the gap - there's so much riding on this encounter. There's also a lot to factor into the equation, namely the mid-week Champions League exertions. The Gunners came unstuck as they crashed to a 2-0 defeat to Napoli to lose top spot in Group F, while the Citizens impressively prevailed over European champions Bayern Munich away from home, and with an under-strength squad. It will be interesting to see how each side react to those results - Arsenal will be licking their wounds having missed out on a potentially-plum last-16 draw while City will be full of confidence. This fixture is historically a low-scoring one - just seven have been scored in the last six encounters - and I'm going for a tight City win to blow the title race right open again. Prediction: 2-1
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
