Match Preview: Arsenal vs. Man City - Premier League 29.03.2014

I think I speak for us all when I suggest that I could do without this fixture, to be honest. A few weeks ago, it looked like it could be a penultimate match of the sort that might help us actually create some distance between ourselves and other title-contenders. That looks to still be the case, albeit in all the wrong ways.

I speak, of course, of the fact that we’ve staggered and are now all but done with winning the Prem. Barring some unforeseeable series of calamities elsewhere, we have to set our sights on 4^th place yet again, not that 3^rd is out of the question, along with doing our damnedest to win the FA Cup. Tuesday’s draw with Swansea put more than a dent in our dreams; it threatens to tear asunder the fabric of what it means to support Arsenal as fans bicker with each other over what’s gone wrong and how to fix it. It’s therefore more than a bit ominous that we play hosts to Man City and their rather gaudy stats—12 wins in their 14 Prem matches, +52 goal differential…heck, even their once-shoddy away-form has taken on an air of respectability, if not intimidation in their last five with four wins, 12 goals scored, and four clean sheets.

It’s difficult then to contemplate the arrival of this apparently irresistible force with anything but grim resignation. Having been demolished by Chelsea last weekend, and then limping to a 2-2 draw at home with Swansea, it’s hard to muster up hope. Indeed, the spectre of another hiding looms. Worse, our disarray in the center of the pitch, with Arteta looking ever-slower, Ox still finding his way, and Ramsey and Koscielny injured, means that Yaya Touré could be set to have a big day. Even with Agüero missing, City have not struggled to score, and it will be a challenge to slow them down, to say the least. However, there are reasons for hope, however slim. On its face, the scoreline from our trip to the Etihad was gruesome (but looks mild compared to more-recent ones). Forgotten though is the idea that we actually held our own quite well, with a number disallowed goals and scoring chances that might well have produced the highest aggregate score between us, if not a different outcome. Who’s to say we can’t produce something for ourselves, at home, with our backs to the wall and little, if anything to lose?

Speaking ahead of the match, Mathieu Flamini explained that “[when] you play a big game, you cannot lose it in the first 10 or 15 minutes…so we have to be focused and be ready because these kinds of games are battles. You have to win the duels, win the fight and then play your football. After that, we have enough quality in this team to find a goal.”

While I’ll stop short of predicting any kind of famous result, all of the expectations have to be for another rampant night for City. If, as Flamini suggests, we hold steady to start, those expectations turn to pressure, and it only takes one goal from us to change things entirely.

LAST 3 meetings

• Man City 6-3 Arsenal (14.12.2013)
• Arsenal 0-2 Man City (13.01.2013)
• Man City 1-1 Arsenal (23.09.2012)

FACTFILE

• Arsenal are undefeated in our last 14 Prem matches at home.
• Arsenal have scored at least two goals in five of our last six Prem matches at home.
• Man City have lost both times when their opponent has scored first.

INJURIES

Diaby (knee), Walcott (knee), Wilshere (ankle), Özil (hamstring), Ramsey (thigh), Miyaichi (hamstring), and Koscielny (calf) will all miss the match due to injuries.

POSSIBLE STARTING XI

Szczesny; Gibbs, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Sagna; Flamini, Källström; Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Rosický; Giroud.

I wish I felt spirited enough to call for victory, but I do foresee a stubborn if not stalwart start from Arsenal being good enough to secure a draw.

GOONERSPHERE's PREDICTION

Arsenal 1-1 Man City

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