man city vs arsenal , Premier League: Team News, Match Preview.

 man city vs arsenal , Premier League: Team News, Match Preview.

Five things to look out for - Manchester City vs Arsenal.

The biggest game of the season so far is set to bring many talking points and entertainment for the supporters.

Manchester City and Arsenal face off at the Etihad Stadium for the first meaningful top of the table clash of the season, with victory for the Blues set to take them five points clear of their opponents.

 Both sides could be without key players, as Kevin de Bruyne is a huge doubt for City and Martin Odegaard is definitely out for the foreseeable future.

But there is still plenty of quality on the pitch that should lead to an exciting game.

 Here are five things to look out for as City take the Gunners on this weekend:.

 The attacking midfield position very much depends on the fitness of De Bruyne.

The Belgian will almost certainly start if he passes a fitness test, in which case Phil Foden will be in contention for the wide spaces.

 But if De Bruyne isn’t fit, I’d expect Foden will definitely start in the number ten position with either Jeremy Doku or Savinho side or Bernardo pushed to the flank with Ilkay Gundogan or Mateo Kovacic centrally.

Despite the fact City are up against Watford just two days after the Arsenal match, the greater priority will of course be on the league match so Guardiola will field what he deems is his best XI. 

 

 I think six players have a definite starting place unless anything changes between now and then, with that sextet being Ederson, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Rodri and Erling Haaland. 

 

 Bernardo Silva and Rico Lewis will also probably start, but they aren’t quite as set in stone due to the strong levels of competition in their places.

 This leaves three places up for grabs - attacking midfield, left wing and either right wing or central midfield depending on where Bernardo plays.

 Jack Grealish will probably start on the left hand side due to his recent good form and proficiency in big games, as well as his tactical versatility in being equally comfortable holding the width and drifting inside centrally.

 This level of healthy competition within the squad is brilliant for the City as it forces the best out of every player and gives a range of different options for Pep Guardiola to use when there are injuries or when a specific kind of player is needed to hurt an opposition.

This has a severe impact on the noise inside the stadium, with the majority of these supporters not invested in creating an atmosphere and in some cases aren’t even bothered about the result.

 People who have supported this club for years are missing out on watching games live due purely to financial reasons.

One of the reasons why I am not on the Champions League cup scheme this season for the first time since 2017 is because of the ridiculous price attached to simply being given the right to buy a ticket.

Arguably the biggest talking point this week regarding Manchester City is the rising price of match tickets and the reduced atmosphere that provides.

 For the match against Inter this week, it’d have set you back approximately £100 for a parent to take their child to a game, which for a club who’ve announced yearly profits of £700 million is an unnecessary amount of money to expect their supporters to spend in the middle of a cost of living crisis.

 The club have their priority focused on supporters who would rather attend just one match and make a day out of it, as they’ll visit the club shop and spend money on half and half scarves and other merchandise for a full match day experience.

 For this weekend’s match, however, the atmosphere should be in full flow.

It’s at a convenient time, the tickets are no more expensive than any other Premier League match for season ticket holders and the atmosphere for games against big clubs like this is always jubilant.

 The Etihad atmosphere has faced some fair and some unfair criticism before, but that shouldn’t be an issue this week as fans prepare for a huge game.

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