Arsenal v Manchester City: Premier League – live

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Arsenal’s recent record against Manchester City is not good, to say the least. Their last Premier League victory came in December 2015, when Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud scored their goals in a 2-1 win, Yaya Toure with a late consolation. Their last victory in any competition was a significant one, though: a 2-0 win in the 2020 FA Cup semi-final, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring both goals, the Gunners going on to secure the first piece of silverware of Mikel Arteta’s reign. In the Premier League of late, though, Manchester City have been in complete control. They’ve won the last ten meetings straight, home and away, to the cumulative tune of 26-3.

26-3!

That’s why they’re champions, huh. City also beat Arsenal in the FA Cup less than three weeks ago, so it’s fair to say the Gunners have a very domineering bogeyman to overcome tonight. It’s just fortunate so many of their players are young and/or new, so won’t have built up too much scar tissue during this sorry sequence. But still. Some test for the home side this evening all right.

Pep Guardiola talks to Amazon Prime. “Haaland trained yesterday and he was well … but we will see … every game is completely different … it is a brilliant stadium, a brilliant atmosphere … Arsenal have waited many years for this moment … Mikel has changed the club and the team … the last decade City was there but I didn’t see urgency [recently against Manchester United] … football changes so quick … this is a big opportunity … we have success doing things in a particular way so we will try to continue to do it.”

Mikel Arteta speaks to Amazon Prime. “Players get injuries and unfortunately Thomas [Partey] felt something in his back muscle … we brought Jorginho for this sort of occasion … Tomi deserves his chance … we must keep doing the same but better … we have dominated games … the game will have momentums and shifts … we need the people behind us to create a special atmosphere … City have so many options … we have to stick to who we are and do our best … there are no surprises, there were just possibilities … they have many options … we need people to turn this place absolutely mental and help us win the game.”

Arsenal make two changes from the starting XI sent out for the 1-1 draw with Brentford last weekend. Thomas Partey is injured, so Jorginho steps in to take his place. Takehiro Tomiyasu replaces Ben White, who drops to the bench.

Manchester City make just one change to the starting team named for the 3-1 win over Aston Villa last Sunday. Nathan Ake replaces Aymeric Laporte, who drops to the bench. Erling Haaland, forced off at half-time against Villa, is fit to start.

The teams

Arsenal: Ramsdale, Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Xhaka, Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah.
Subs: Turner, White, Tierney, Kiwior, Holding, Vieira, Trossard, Nelson, Cozier-Duberry.

Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Ake, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Silva, Mahrez, Grealish, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Phillips, Laporte, Alvarez, Gomez, Akanji, Foden, Palmer, Lewis.

Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire).

Preamble

We’ll not insult your intelligence by banging on about the importance of this.

Kick off is at 7.30pm GMT. It’s on!