Arsenal vs Man City Tips, Betting Preview, Predictions, Odds

Enfield Independent

06 October 2023

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Man City currently have a narrow one-point advantage over the Gunners after seven fixtures, but are fresh from a shock defeat to Wolves.

are offering home and away wins at similar prices, with City slight favourites in general, reflecting how this is a difficult one to call.

While Arsenal and Manchester City went toe-to-toe for the majority of the 2022/23 season, Guardiola’s team won both clashes between the two rivals in the Premier League.

Indeed, City have a strong record against the Gunners. Arsenal lost just two league matches in front of their own fans last season and one of them came against Guardiola’s team who have looked comfortable in north London in the past.

Gabriel Martinelli is expected to be missing through injury and Bukayo Saka could yet miss out too; this will likely have a big impact on the threat Arsenal are able to pose in the attacking third.

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Arteta’s approach is designed to get Arsenal’s wide players into one-on-one situations against opposition defenders, but his team might lack the personnel to make this strategy work on Sunday.

Rodri will also be sidelined for Manchester City through suspension, but the Premier League champions have enough midfield depth to cope, which is why we’re siding with the for an away win.

Alvarez stealing Haaland’s thunder

Erling Haaland might be City’s main man in attack, but Julian Alvarez has enjoyed an excellent start to the season, scoring six goals in just nine games.

Tottenham Hotspur were able to exploit space between the Arsenal defence and midfield earlier this season and this could bring the best out of Alvarez.

Alvarez has become a key figure for City this season and could benefit from Arsenal potentially paying too much attention to Haaland in and around the penalty area. He could find himself in space.

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Gabriel Magalhaes will look to match up physically against Haaland and that may allow Alvarez to drift away from the Norwegian frontman.

Guardiola faces a number of difficult selection decisions with City primarily facing a call between starting Jeremy Doku or Jack Grealish, but Alvarez’s recent form has been too strong for him to not feature heavily.

Both teams to trade blows

Arsenal haven’t yet hit the stride that made them title challengers last term, which is why the latest make them 13/2 outsiders in this season’s race. However, they have still been a dangerous attacking outfit so far.

Indeed, the Gunners have found the back of the net at least once in every match they have played this season. Even in the disappointing defeat to Lens in the Champions League on Tuesday night, they still managed to score.

Meanwhile, Manchester City have only failed to score in one match so far this season – the Carabao Cup defeat against Newcastle United when Guardiola rotated his squad.

City have scored over 2.5 goals in three of the six away matches they have played so far this term with the midweek win over RB Leipzig demonstrating just how sharp they can be in the final third of the pitch.

Martinelli and Saka’s absence might blunt Arsenal’s threat in the opposition half, but the Gunners are still a dangerous outfit in transition moments and City can be defensively vulnerable in these situations.

Graham Ruthven is a football writer and podcaster who has worked for the Guardian, New York Times, Eurosport, Optus Sport and many others. He boasts an extensive knowledge of football around the world and has been a betting tipster for a number of years.