City name unchanged side for key Arsenal clash

City name unchanged side for key Arsenal clash

City name an unchanged side for Sunday’s key Premier League clash at home to Arsenal.

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Pep Guardiola keeps faith with the side that started last weekend’s 3-0 victory at Chelsea with Nico O’Reilly fully recovered for the leg issue that forced him off at Stamford Bridge.

John Stones, who missed out at Chelsea last week through injury, is fit again and named amongst the substitutes.

Ruben Dias is unavailable for selection this afternoon due to injury.

Meanwhile Josko Gvardiol is also still sidelined as he continues his recovery and rehabilitation from a tibial fracture to his right leg.

Teams

CITY XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Khusanov, Guéhi, O’Reilly, Rodrigo, Bernardo (C) Semenyo, Cherki, Doku, Haaland.

Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Nico, Ait-Nouri, Savinho, Foden.

ARSENAL: Raya, Mosquera, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie, Rice, Zubimendi, Eze, Odegaard, Madueke, Havertz.

Subs: Kepa, White, Jesus, Martinelli, Gyokeres, Norgaard, Trossard, Lewis-Skelly, Dowman.

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Tactics and formation

Gianluigi Donnarumma will be the familiar figure in goal with the Italian goalkeeper shielded by a back four of Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Marc Guéhi and Nico O’Reilly.

Rodri will be the familiar holding midfielder with skipper Bernardo Silva and Rayan Cherki also operating in the City engine room.

Erling Haaland will provide the central attacking threat with Jeremy Doku and Antoine Semenyo deployed on either wing.

However, as always such is City’s tactical flexibility and fluidity those positions could be subject to change as the game goes on.

April powers

It feels as though we have been talking about this game for ever – and given the margins at the top of the Premier League, there is no doubting the importance and significance of today’s encounter.

City will go into the match on the back of fine run of form over the past three games.

That trio saw Pep Guardiola’s side beat Arsenal 2-0 to lift the Carabao Cup, then demolish Liverpool 4-0 to advance into the FA Cup semi-finals before then securing a superb 3-0 league win at Chelsea last weekend.

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And if the Blues were in need of any extra feelgood factor, history demonstrates how Pep’s City traditionally power into top gear throughout the crucial month of April.

A glance at the record books reveal how for months with at least 10 games played, April is Manchester City’s best under Pep Guardiola in terms of points-per-game (2.51) and win rate (79.5%).

Meanwhile, it’s the worst month for both of those for Arsenal under Mikel Arteta (1.54 PPG, 42.3% win rate).

Here’s hoping that augurs well for this afternoon.

Homegrown hero

To a man the City squad have been in superb form over the past month or so.

It feels almost invidious to highlight individuals but, for me, Nico O’Reilly has been an absolute tower of strength.

Two goals in the Carabao Cup final, alongside another key goal at Stamford Bridge last week were just the latest defining contributions from the Academy graduate.

Indeed, Nico has been absolutely magnificent all season long and must be in with a shout when it comes to contenders of the PFA Young Player of the Year vote.

And the great news is at the age of just 21, he is only going to continue to improve and get better.

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Stats and facts

City are unbeaten in our last 10 Premier League home games against Arsenal (W7 D3) since a 2-0 loss in January 2015 under Manuel Pellegrini.

Arsenal are unbeaten in their last five Premier League games against City (W2 D3), having lost 12 in a row against them before this.

This is the latest into a season (MD33) City are facing the league leaders since April 2012, when we beat Manchester United 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium on MD36 en route to winning our first ever Premier League title.

City are unbeaten in our last 14 Premier League home games, since losing 2-0 against Spurs in their opening match at the Etihad this term. We’ve netted at least twice in 12 of these 14 games.

Arsenal have lost their last three matches in domestic competition, against City in the EFL Cup final, Southampton in the FA Cup, and Bournemouth in the Premier League. They last lost four consecutively in February/March 2018, which included defeats to City in the EFL Cup final and Premier League.

Since the turn of the year, Arsenal players have made 15 errors that have led to a shot in their 13 Premier League games, almost twice as many as they made in their 19 games between August and December (8).

Since the start of February, no Manchester City player has scored more goals in all competitions than Nico O’Reilly (6), who netted both goals in their 2-0 EFL Cup final win over Arsenal last month.

City’s Rayan Cherki is averaging an assist every 138 minutes in the Premier League this season (10 assists in 1,384 minutes). Of players to play 1,000+ minutes in a single campaign, only Cesc Fàbregas in 2016-17 (111) and Kevin De Bruyne in 2023-24 (123) have had a better average.

Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze has either scored (2) or assisted (1) a goal in each of his last three appearances against City in all competitions, setting up Gabriel Martinelli’s 90th-minute equaliser in the reverse fixture.

Be at City’s FA Cup semi-final!

Pep Guardiola’s brilliant Blues are on the hunt for yet more silverware under Wembley’s famous arch.

We return to the national stadium on Saturday 25 April in a 17:15 (UK) kick-off for our FA Cup semi-final with Southampton.

And Members can be there with prices starting from £30 for adults and £20 for U18s and over 65s.

As we’ve seen with other recent Wembley visits, it’s an occasion not to be missed!

Get your tickets now!