The FA Cup is back in action with another round of knock-out matches this week as Manchester City lock horns with Mikel Arteta’s impressive Arsenal side in an important clash at the Etihad Stadium on Friday
Manchester City are currently in second place in the Premier League standings and have not been at their best so far this season. The home side eased past Wolverhampton Wanderers by a 3-0 margin and will be confident ahead of this fixture.
Arsenal, on the other hand, are at the top of the league table at the moment and have been exceptional so far this season. The Gunners secured a crucial 3-2 victory against Manchester United in their previous game and will look to achieve a similar result this week.
Arsenal have a predictably good historical record against Manchester City and have won 98 out of the last 205 matches played between the two teams, as opposed to Arsenal’s 62 victories.Manchester City have won 13 of their 16 matches against Arsenal in all competitions with Pep Guardiola in charge and only have a better record against Burnley in this regard.
Arsenal have won their last four matches against Manchester City in the FA Cup and have managed to reach the final on each occasion when they have defeated the Cityzens in the competition.
Manchester City have won their last nine matches in the FA Cup at the Etihad Stadium and have scored at least three goals in each of these games, scoring a total of 40 goals during this period. Arsenal lost their last FA Cup match against a Premier League opponent by a 1-0 margin and have not lost consecutive games in this regard since 2011.
Arsenal have excelled under Mikel Arteta this season and will be intent on winning silverware in the coming weeks. The Gunners have struggled against Pep Guardiola in the past and will view this fixture as the perfect opportunity to make amends. Manchester City have had their issues their season but can be virtually unstoppable on their day. Arsenal are in better form, however, and hold a slight upper hand going into this game.
Manchester City are playing catch up on Arsenal in the Premier League this season, but an FA Cup fourth round meeting is an opportunity to try and re-exert some dominance. City have won each of the last five meetings between these sides, although they are yet to face a much improved Gunners side at all this season.
Here’s a look at the starting XI Pep Guardiola could pick for this one.may yet be the most telling mistake Manchester City have made in recent seasons. The moments that cost them a English league three-peat — as sizeable a mark of greatness as any in this country — might have come before a ball was kicked when they sold first Gabriel Jesus and then Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal.
Not even the Gunners’ own sales of Ashley Cole, Emmanuel Adebayor and Robin van Persie compare as an act of self-sabotage; Arsenal did not forge contenders with those sales nor did they have much of a title challenge to handicap. They had a stadium to finance. Pep Guardiola had no such concerns in sending two squad players to north London. It was the move the players wanted and the Premier League champions wanted to do right by them.
City did not see this Arsenal emerging, the one they will face first in Friday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie, a mere warmup act to the title showdown that their meeting on February 15 may yet be. If they had, then the whims of their players would have counted for rather less. In their defense, neither did some of Zinchenko’s new teammates.
To be honest, when I had just arrived, the quality I saw … obviously I knew the Arsenal team, I knew all of them before, but still I realized on the pitch we have everything to achieve big things,” Zinchenko said after Sunday’s 3-2 win over Manchester United. “I started to speak in the dressing room, saying, ‘Guys, forget top three or whatever, we need to think about the title.’ Some of them were laughing but no one is laughing now
