Stuttering league leaders Arsenal travel to ruthless chasers Manchester City for a colossal clash to potentially decide the Premier League title in the 2022/23 season.
MCFC vs ARS Match Details
Date: Wednesday 26 April 2023, Thursday 27 April 2023
Time: 20:00 (BST), 00:30 (IST)
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
MCFC vs ARS Match Preview
Manchester City are facing for the third time season having won the reverse fixture 3-1 at Emirates and the FA Cup tie 1-0 at Etihad. However, victory in this one will hold more meaning than the rest as the Citizens look to defend the Premier League crown for the third year running matching the feat of their rivals Manchester United. Keeping aside the uncomfortable final stage of the game, City cruised through a 3-1 victory over Leicester City in the last league game to bring down the gap with the table-toppers to five points and a chance now to close it to only three when they face the Gunners at home. The 3-0 success over Sheffield United on Sunday to get into the FA Cup final and reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League against Real Madrid mean Pep Guardiola's men are on the course of a historical treble this season. Not losing a single game in their last 16 successive matches in all competitions with 13 wins makes them the team to stop. Winning this midweek will leave the side facing only Chelsea if they show a late surge and Brighton as the two possible challenging fixtures in the remaining seven Premier League games. If they can handle the pressure of their European venture side by side, they will have destiny in their own hands. Guardiola's side has also won all of the 12 games played at Etihad this year and emerged victorious in all of their last six meetings with Arsenal here.
Arsenal knew this fixture will define their season to land their first Premier League title in 20 years but never imagined having their glory run hobbled over the last three games leading up to this one. Lightning struck thrice for the side in the 3-3 draw against Southampton on Friday night who already drew 2-2 with Liverpool and then to West Ham but a third successive points drop that too against the worst side in the league was a big surprise. The Gunners went down within seconds for the second time this season after Carlos Alcaraz scored from a horror pass by Aaron Ramsdale into his path. 14 minutes in and it was 2-0 as Theo Walcott returned at the Emirates to hurt his former side. Gabriel Martinelli then responded for the home side but fell behind again by a Duje Caleta-Car’s header in the 66th minute from a corner. When all hopes seem to have lost, Martin Odegaard came up with a brilliant strike in the 88th minute to spark a late comeback allowing Bukayo Saka to equalise only a minute after and could have easily won that game if substitute Leondro Trossard did not hit the crosspiece in the stoppage time. They have no momentum to carry to their season-defining game and William Saliba’s injury has caused them to leak goals, 10 in the last five itself, which has cost them points in this intense title race. A first win in 11 meetings against City despite the odds against them will put them eight points clear at the top with Chelsea, Newcastle and Brighton to face in three straight fixtures after this is not so forgiving schedule.
Recent Form (all competitions)
MCFC: WDWWW
Recent Form (Premier League)
MCFC: WWWWW
ARS: DDDWW
MCFC vs ARS Team News
Nathan Ake looks to possibly miss out the top of the table clash with a hamstring problem otherwise Manchester City looks fresh with Aymeric Laporte continuing in the back three after being selected for the FA Cup semi-final win over Sheffield United this past weekend. John Stones, Ruben Dias, Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne will all return to the eleven after receiving the necessary rest. Erling Haaland is one shy of breaking the record of most goals scored in a single top-flight season in 38 games with 32 strikes so far.
Arsenal have no fresh injury concerns from their nerve-wracking draw with Southampton but receives some bad news regarding Saliba’s back injury that is potentially keeping him out for the season. Rob Holding continues to fill his hole in the center-back position with Takehiro Tomiyasu also out injured. Mohamed Elneny is sidelined with a knee injury but Granit Xhaka could return after an illness that kept him out in the last game.
MCFC vs ARS Predicted Lineups
MCFC: Ederson; Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte; John Stones, Rodri; Riyad Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan, De Bruyne, Jack Grealish; Erling Haaland
ARS: Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhaes, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Granit Xhaka, Thomas Partey; Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli; Gabriel Jesus
MCFC vs ARS Head to Head
MCFC won - 64
Drawn - 45
ARS won - 98
(In overall meetings)
MCFC vs ARS Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Ederson (7.5)
DEF: White (8), Akanji (8), Zinchenko (7.5)
MID: Saka (9), Odegaard (9), De Bruyne (9), Grealish (8.5)
FW: Jesus (8.5), Haaland (9), Martinelli (9)
Vice-captain: Bukayo Saka
Captain: Erling Haaland
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