Five things to look out for - Manchester City vs Arsenal

Today at 02:05 PM

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:

Who will definitely start… and which places are up for grabs?

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.

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.

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.

How do City break down Arsenal's deep block?

Arsenal have become famed for making the most of their strong defensive players by operating with a deep compact block, a system that many teams use against City that is often successful in keeping them out.

Mikel Arteta's side were successful in getting a point last season at the Etihad utilising such a system, whilst they got all three in the North London derby last week thanks to a goal from Gabriel and a strong defensive performance overall.

As difficult as such a resolute defence can be to break down, City are one of the best equipped sides in the world to do this due to a number of qualities their different players have.

With the likes of Foden and Lewis who are good in small spaces, they are able to maintain pressure high up the pitch and essentially create chances through pure brute force and persistence.

Doku and Savinho are also useful against deep blocks due to their ability to take a man out of the game with their success in one vs one duels, whilst their comfort with holding the width helps to stretch a game out and make the pitch as big as possible.

And of course, through the likes of De Bruyne, Foden, Rodri, Haaland and Gundogan, there is always the chance of a wonderful piece of skill or game changing moment that can be the decisive moment in a game of fine margins such as this.

The battle of the midfields

In most people's pictured scenario of this game, City are going to have the majority of possession and will be looking to break the Arsenal backline down, which will be made even tougher if their midfield do a sufficient job of protecting their back four.

Declan Rice and Thomas Partey are two of the best holding midfielders in the Premier League, with Kai Havertz offering an attacking threat and also defensive qualities with his physicality and aerial ability.

Odegaard is unavailable so they do lose some ball retention ability and "pausa" (slowing the game down by coming to a complete stop with the ball at your feet) without him, but their midfield remains to be one of the strongest in the Premier League.

They will attempt to physically dominate City's midfield, and perhaps limit how much the ball travels into Rodri, who when given space and time can dictate entire matches.

From a defensive point of view, Rodri will need to stop Arsenal from breaking through the centre, so I would expect one of Gundogan, Kovacic or Bernardo to start alongside him, as tantalising an idea it would be to have Foden and De Bruyne play there together.

If City dominate midfield in the sense that they both control possession and stop transitions - as difficult as that will be - it leaves Arsenal with not much choice other than to rely on their backline to keep a clean sheet in hope of a result

Dealing with pace down Arsenal's left hand side

One way in which the Gunners can hurt City is through the left hand side of their attack, as they have an array of top quality options who can operate there.

Gabriel Martinelli is excellent in one vs one dribbling duels, former City player Raheem Sterling can stretch the backline and offers goals and assists whilst Leandro Trossard is a good finisher and a well-rounded general purpose attacker.

All three of these players are quick and can beat a man running on the outside. Particularly if Kyle Walker isn't playing, this could be an area for Arsenal to target to hurt City as Lewis is inexperienced and isn't particularly fast.

Lewis does however excel in one vs one defensive duels, so if he's in position he can be trusted to stop his man trying to trick his way past him and beat him with skill.

When he's caught out of position after drifting inside, however, he'll need support from his right sided centre back (probably Akanji) to match himself up against the left winger and be bold in engaging and not allowing them to have the ball in behind.

Atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium

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.

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.

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.