The biggest game in the history of the Emirates Stadium takes place later today between Arsenal and Manchester City. We are ahead of them by three points with a game in hand, but this result goes way beyond the three points. This is a key battle in the war that is the league title. Whoever comes out on top tonight will be massively boosted both in the table, but also mentally and in regards to the momentum that comes with the result.
As I mentioned yesterday, I fully expect Arteta to go with the same lineup of:
Ramsdale
White Saliba Gabriel Zinchenko
Partey Xhaka
Saka Odegaard Martinelli
Nketiah
The only possible changes I could foresee are Trossard for Martinelli or Tomiyasu for White, but I just don’t see either happening. The other “shock” move I could possibly see is Jorginho finding a spot in midfield in an effort to establish control. I highly doubt it, but it’s my long shot wild card guess if it was somebody outside of the obvious. I’ve heard it suggested that Trossard could be used as a substitute later on for Nketiah rather than Martinelli, which could be interesting given his hold up play and close control possibly enabling a guy like Martinelli, rather than restricting him. When it comes to City, I am expecting:
Ederson
Walker Akanji Laporte Ake
De Bruyne Rodri Silva
Mahrez Haaland Grealish
The fact that they don’t have John Stones available is a nice boost to us. I fully expect Haaland to be fit despite Pep’s comments about his knock. Arteta didn’t learn these mind games on his own. Assuming Haaland is back, it will be interesting to see if they look to isolate him on William Saliba after his struggles against Ivan Toney last weekend. As we know, he went 0-12 in aerial duels and got absolutely dominated. I love Saliba, but I do think we have put a young defender on a pedestal too quickly. He is going to have matches where he struggles, whereas Gabriel has been the more solid, dependable option. I imagine it will be a managerial tug of war where we try to focus Gabriel on Haaland and City tries to free him to Saliba. I’m comfortable in either matchup and continue to feel confident we have the best CB pairing in the league. One rough match doesn’t define Saliba. He’ll come back determined and ready to rise to the challenge. Toney is no walk in the park and he’s embarrassed many a good defender in the past. Ben White will have something to say about that I’m sure.
Matches like this separate the men from the boys. We’re a young team, so it will be exciting to see what they’re made of and just how close we are to genuinely arriving at the top level. Saka consistently shows up in the big matches. Who else will join him today?
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Absolute Arsenal 
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