Manchester City vs Arsenal – Preview, possible lineups and form guide

Arsenal:

Arsenal will be given a boost by the return of Laurent Koscielny following a suspected jaw injury sustained in the defeat to Manchester United. However, scans revealed the damage to be soft tissue bruising and, after returning to training a few days ago, Koscielny looks likely to start. This could well mean that Emery will revert to a three-man back line.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles however seems to still be suffering with a minor knee injury as well as Henrikh Mkhitaryan posing another doubt for Unai Emery’s side.

Absolutely no concerns over Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who seems to be in the form of his life, scoring his 25th Premier League goal during Arsenal’s win over Cardiff. He reaches this landmark faster than any other Arsenal player in the league’s history (37 games).

MANAGERS’ THOUGHTS

Unai Emery

On Denis Suarez’s first couple of days with the Gunners – “He’s a player with quality and I think he can help us with his quality, and also his ambition to do something important here.”

“It will be a tough match. Our challenge is [big] against every team, but on Sunday we are playing against the best – Sunday is against the best.”

“On Sunday, I am positive about the possibility of playing different players.”

Pep Guardiola

“It’s the same situation as the last two or three months,” said Guardiola. “It happens, it’s not new.”

“The only way I know after a negative result is to focus on the play, the mentality, and to say ‘Okay, it’s the start of February, there are a lot of points to play for and many things can happen.”

“The situation is simple – we increase the way we play, improve the details we didn’t do well and we have options. It’s not new, the players know that.”

“It’s not new, we’ve done it many times – get back on track with our principles, the players they know it.”

After facing the Gunners, City will travel to Everton as well as hosting Chelsea and Guardiola has stated that he recognises the importance of taking three points home from all three of those matches if City are to stand a chance of overhauling league leaders Liverpool.

FORM GUIDE

DID YOU KNOW?

Man City go into this match having won their last three Premier League games against the Gunners. However, it hasn’t been since April 1937 that they have won a fourth.

The Gunners don’t have such a promising record away at the Etihad, having lost seven of their last 11 visits.

All competitions taken into account, Pep Guardiola’s men have won the last four encounters against Arsenal by two clear goals.

POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy; De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva; Sterling, Aguero, Sane

Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Leno; Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Maitland-Niles, Torreira, Xhaka, Guendouzi, Kolasinac; Lacazette, Aubameyang