Manchester City face their toughest test of the season yet, as they travel to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal in the Premier League.
The Blues have endured a mixed start to the season, with convincing wins against Wolves, Manchester United and Napoli but disappointing defeats to Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton.
Arsenal meanwhile have lost just once, away to champions Liverpool, and go into the game as favourites with home advantage.
Here are five things to look out for in the clash between two potential title rivals:
Haaland vs Gabriel
The biannual battle of the season is approaching, as Erling Haaland and Gabriel butt heads.
The beef started at the Etihad last year, where Gabriel, attempting to provoke and foul Haaland all game ended having it thrown back into his face – literally – when Haaland pelted the ball at the back of his head when celebrating John Stones’s late equaliser.
Gabriel then went and celebrated in the Norwegian’s face when Arsenal scored the first of their five goals in the reverse fixture. Haaland opted not to do the same when he equalised later in that same game.
Haaland has spoken in interviews saying that he has a competitive but ultimately civil relationship with Gabriel, but the Arsenal defender has always seemed to push the rivalry between the two players more.
It’ll be fascinating to see the two clash once again, particularly considering Arsenal’s excellent start and Haaland’s blistering form creating an unstoppable force meets immovable object paradox.
Another unchanged City XI
City thrived against Manchester United and Napoli with the same starting XI (they even made almost the same substitutions) so there’s absolutely no reason for Pep Guardiola to make any changes.
The only one I could realistically see him making is to bring Nathan Ake or John Stones into the backline and shift Josko Gvardiol to left back for more stability.
But O’Reilly has been excellent both against United and Napoli, so I think it’d be harsh and even unwise to drop him – or anyone – from a team gathering winning momentum right now.
Arsenal rushing players back
Whereas City before have proven to be meticulous and careful with their unfit players (particularly young players) Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal have a completely different approach.
The likes of Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka in particular are often thrust straight back into the action when not fully fit, which obviously leads to further injuries in the long run.
The two players mentioned above, along with William Saliba, have all had recent injury troubles, but it seems that Odegaard and Saliba are expected to start, and I wouldn’t rule out Saka playing either.
Rodri starting
And despite what I’ve just said – I do expect Rodri to start and play through the pain.
City’s next two games are Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup and Burnley at home in the Premier League – both of which are definitely winnable without the Ballon D’Or holder.
It’s of course always sensible to be careful with a player who’s returned from a long term injury, even more so considering his 65th minute substitution against Napoli wasn’t planned or even as a reaction of City going 2-0 up.
But I really think if we can get even just an hour or 75 minutes from Rodri, it’ll make a large difference on the outcome of the game – that’s how influential he is. And if City win, it’ll be worth him being forced out of the Huddersfield and Burnley games.
A closer game than some anticipate
Certainly this time last week, many Blues will have been heading into this game with an enormous amount of trepidation.
But fast forward a week and City have beaten United and Napoli without conceding, Gvardiol and Phil Foden are showing good form and Haaland is scoring goals at a phenomenal rate.
It’s going to be an extremely tough game, and admittedly Arsenal are the favourites. I’ve got to be realistic and City probably won’t win, but if they do, it would hardly be a turn up for the books.
