PREMIER LEAGUE
Arsenal and Man City set for Premier League title race thriller
Arsenal and Manchester City meet for the first time in the Premier League this season after the Mancunians’ victory in the FA Cup. The ‘Gunners’ lead Guardiola’s men by three points.
The eyes of the footballing world will be firmly focused on North London tonight as Premier League table toppers Arsenal face second placed Manchester City. The duel will pit Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola with the Arsenal boss facing his former mentor at City.
The game offers the Londoners an opportunity to extend their lead over their closest pursuers with City three points behind the Gunners. It also affords Arteta’s men the chance to avenge the recent elimination from the FA Cup with Guardiola’s men running out 1-0 winners last month. Arsenal only managed a 1-1 draw against Brentford last weekend whilst City overpowered Aston Villa with a 1-3 win to keep the distance between both teams to just three points.
Mikel Arteta was annoyed about the manner in which his team dropped points at the weekend berating the officials over a VAR decision: “That was not a human error, that was not understanding your work. It’s not acceptable. That cost Arsenal two points and they are not coming back”, criticized the Spanish coach. Things move on and Arsenal need to rediscover winning ways, for the first time all season, the Gunners have gone on three consecutive games, in all competitions, without winning.
Doubts of Erling Haaland playing tonight still linger after the Norwegian striker was forced off after a collision with the Aston Villa keeper on Sunday. Speaking to the media ahead of the game, City’s coach Guardiola stated: “Tomorrow is an important one, everyone knows it, and we’ll try to do our best. It’s important because we can take the points, and stop the best team [in the league] from doing so.
“But I have a feeling many things can happen. Tomorrow can help us be there, but there are many games, tough games. We cannot deny it’s important to prove ourselves. I would say if there are three or four games left and the difference is one point, maybe it could be important,” he said.
“There are a lot of points to play for. This is an important match, but there are many more to come.”