January 28th 2025.
This weekend, two of the top teams in the Premier League, Arsenal and Manchester City, will face off in an exciting showdown. Last season's top two teams are both determined to stay in the race for the league title, currently led by Liverpool. Arsenal's victory against Wolves on Saturday kept them within six points of the league leaders, Arne Slot's team, who still have a game in hand. On the other hand, City has recently bounced back from a rough patch of games and won four out of their last five matches, putting them back in fourth place. Could this mean their title bid is back on? Stranger things have happened in football.
Before they meet in the capital on Sunday, both teams will have Champions League matches to contend with, although their assignments are quite different. Arsenal will face Girona, and with their automatic qualification for the knockout stages practically secured, they may have the luxury of resting some players. On the other hand, City will have to defeat Club Brugge to avoid being eliminated from the competition.
In the lead up to the highly anticipated match, Arsenal's manager, Mikel Arteta, received some good news as Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino rejoined training on Tuesday. Odegaard had missed the win against Wolves due to an illness, while Merino had a minor injury. Both players trained with their teammates in preparation for the upcoming match in Spain. However, it seems like Myles Lewis-Skelly, who received a controversial red card in the last game, will be serving a three-match suspension, starting with the match against City.
In an attempt to overturn the red card, Arsenal has submitted an appeal. Meanwhile, William Saliba, who had missed the previous two games due to a knock, played the full 90 minutes against Wolves and is expected to be available for the match against City. However, Ben White has not resumed first-team training yet, and Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, and Takehiro Tomiyasu remain sidelined.
On the other side, City's manager, Pep Guardiola, is hopeful that his team is building momentum again after a rough end to 2024. With their spot in the Champions League knockout stages almost secured, Guardiola may have the luxury of resting some players midweek before the crucial match against Arsenal. However, he also revealed that Oscar Bobb is close to returning after a long injury layoff.
Looking at the possible lineups for the two teams, it seems like Arsenal may have to do without Jeremy Doku, who has missed the last two games, while Ruben Dias is also sidelined with an undisclosed timeline for his return. For City, Nathen Ake is absent, but John Stones is available after recovering from his recent injuries. In the last game, Abdukodir Khusanov had a tough debut against Chelsea, but Omar Marmoush impressed and may have earned a spot in the starting lineup.
Predicted lineups for Arsenal and City are as follows:
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Odegaard, Partey, Rice, Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard
City: Ederson, Nunes, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Silva, Kovacic, de Bruyne, Foden, Haaland, Marmoush
For those wondering where to watch the match, it will kick off at 4:30 pm on Sunday, February 2nd, and will be broadcasted live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event. The match will also be available for streaming on the Sky Go app and NOW TV. And for those who can't watch, you can follow all the action on Metro's LIVE matchday blog.
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