ARSENAL are facing Manchester City in the Premier League RIGHT NOW – and injured Bukayo Saka is NOT in the Gunners’ squad.
But Gabriel Martinelli is on the bench as last season’s runners-up look to end their torrid run against City in the Premier League.
Mikel Arteta’s side got a small slice of revenge by beating the treble-winners in the Community Shield in August.
- Kick-off time: 4:30pm BST
- Live stream: NOW TV
- TV channel: Sky Sports Main Event / Sky Sports Premier League
- Arsenal XI: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko,Jorginho, Rice, Odegaard, Trossard, Nketiah, Jesus
- Man City XI: Ederson, Walker, Dias, Ake, Gvardiol, Kovacic, Lewis, Bernardo, Foden, Alvarez, Haaland
- Explainer: What is Game Mode camera on Sky Sports?
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Arsenal 0-0 Man City
33. And just like that, Haaland enters the action.
He brings a high ball down out of the sky, turns and lays into the path of Alvarez.
Moving on to the attack, the Argentine controls and thumps over from 30 yards.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
32. Now Jesus has gone down, holding his stomach, but I’m not too sure why.
Meanwhile, has anyone seen Erling Haaland? The striker has only had three touches, the fewest of any player on the pitch.
Mind you, Scott McTominay only had five yesterday.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
30. Maybe that terrible tackle was just what his contest needed.
After a passive opening, there’s not a bit of needle about it, and the home crowd are getting themselves involved.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City – Kovacic yellow card
28. Ouch! That’s a bad one from Mateo Kovacic, and completely unnecessary.
The former Chelsea man lunges in on Martin Odegaard from behind, and catches him above the heel with his studs.
As the Arsenal captain writhes around in pain, Michael Oliver issues the game’s third yellow card – but the punishment could yet be greater.
ON VAR duty, John Brooks is reviewing the incident and taking his time.
It looks worse on each replay, but is it enough to warrant an upgrade to a straight red card?
Eventually, the officials decide no, although if the on-field decision had been red, I don’t think it would have been overturned.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
26. Better from Arsenal. Sort of.
Nketiah turns sharply after receiving a pass just outside of the City penalty area, moves right and lets fly with a shot that goes well wide.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
25. Jesus finally gets in behind the City defence, but only after he is adjudged to have fouled Ake.
It doesn’t stop the Arsenal forward from running through and attempting a cheeky chip, which comes back off Ederson’s post.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
23. Another Raya pass out from the back is seized upon by a City forward, prompting a collective groan from around the Emirates.
And the noise is still nothing on Gary Neville’s moaning.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City – Silva yellow card
22. If Manchester City have been the better side so far, it’s only marginal.
The Premier League champions have been far from their best, and that’s summed up here by Bernardo Silva, who gives the ball away cheaply and then clatters Nketiah around the knee with a sliding tackle in response.
It’s a yellow card for another player who can have no complaints.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
20. Not for the first time today, Phil Foden makes an incisive through the middle of Arsenal’s centre-backs.
Kovacic goes looking for him too with a raking pass, but there’s just too much on it and it skids through to Raya.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
18. “I can spot a dodgy goalkeeper a mile off, and he is a nervous wreck,” observes Gary Neville, who continues to bat for Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
17. Oh my! David Raya, you are a lucky boy!
The Arsenal goalkeeper takes a loose first touch to control a backpass, and then, with Julian Alvarez bearing down on him, crashes his clearance into the Man City forward.
The ball could go anyway, most likely the net, but fortunately for the Spanish stopper it crashes into the advertising hoardings just beyond his near post.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
15. With 15 minutes on the clock, it’s City that have edged an unremarkable contest so far.
In the absence of Rodri, it appears to be Benardo Silva, who is dropping deep to collect possession and subsequently spread play.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
13. During a lull in play, Sky advertise their latest innovation: Game Mode, which gives viewers the opportunity to view the match as if it were a video game.
I give it a month.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City – Jorginho yellow card
11. Jorginho’s inclusion was questioned by plenty of Arsenal fans when the teams were announced, and there’s nothing been so far to make them admit their mistake.
And this isn’t going to help.
The Italian gets completely the wrong side of Phil Foden on the near touchline, and, in his desperation to get back goalside, cynically pulls back his opponent.
An easy booking for referee Michael Oliver to hand out.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
9. And now the hosts win their first corner of the game.
There’s no fancy set-piece though like we saw at Everton a couple of weeks back.
Instead, Odegaard bangs it in and it leads to some proper League Two staff as both sets of players take their turn to miscue and welly it up in the air.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
7. Arsenal finally get a grip on proceedings and come forward for the first time, Gabriel Jesus leading the charge against his former club.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
5. “The goalkeeper is all over the place in the opening minutes,” scathes Gary Neville on co-commentary, who is clearly in the Aaron Ramsdale camp.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
4. A few nerves in the Arsenal ranks?
Unconvincing touches from Raya, Zinchenko and Rice lead to the game’s first corner…
…and from it, City should score!
A looping cross to the backpost finds Gvardiol being wrestled by Odegaard, but the Croatian still manages to poke beyond Raya, only for Rice to head off the line.
The danger isn’t clear though, and when the ball comes back into the penalty area, it falls into the path of Ake, who blasts over.
Arsenal 0-0 Man City
2. There’s no room for sentiment in this contest as Jesus clatters into his former teammate Ake with less than two minutes on the clock, and offers nothing more than an apologetic wave of the arm.
Kick-off – Arsenal v Man City
1. Here we go! After the two sets of players take a knee to show there is no room in society for racism, the visitors get the game underway.
It’s the challengers versus the champions. It’s red versus blue. It’s south versus north. It’s Arsenal versus Manchester City.
Here come the two teams!
Toe-to-toe for much of last season, this afternoon Arsenal and Manchester City go head-to-head once again.
Yet far from this being a meeting of imperious Premier League champions and ambitious challengers, both sides come into this with concerns.
Recent defeats to Lens and Wolves respectively have shown that the pair are fallible, and both come into today without key individuals Bukayo Saka and Rodri.
Nevertheless, there’s expectancy in the air at the Emirates as North London Forever rings out around the stands with the two sets of players in a huddle.
Kick-off comes next.
Arsenal receive Pep talk
Pep Guardiola saw off a rejuvenated Arsenal last season, but ahead of another reunion with former coach Mikel Arteta, the Manchester City boss insisted that the Gunners are back – and here to stay.
They were our biggest rival last season and will stay there for a long time. Arsenal is back. When I was a young boy and starting as a manager at Barcelona, I knew that they fought Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United team. Then for many years they were not there but now they’re back.
Pep Guardiola
Keeper Ederson hits major milestone
Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson will make his 300th appearance for Manchester City in all competitions this afternoon.
The Brazilian stopper joined the Premier League club in June 2017 for £35m, and has won 15 trophies during his time at the Etihad.
In his 299 games for the club so far, the 30-year-old has kept 142 clean sheets and conceded 231 goals.
- 225 Premier League apps
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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 23:Ederson Moraes of Manchester City celebrates following the Premier League match between Manchester City and Nottingham Forest at Etihad Stadium on September 23, 2023 in Manchester, England. (Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)Credit: Getty City 6/4 to defeat Gunners again
The news of Bukayo Saka’s absence has prompted a shift in the bookies’ odds with Manchester City now as short as 6/4 to win a 13th straight match against Arsenal. As a result, the Gunners have drifted to 9/5 for three points.
- Arsenal win 9/5
- Draw 11/5
- Man City win 6/4
Odds from Paddy Power correct at time of post publication.
Gunners suffer significant Saka blow
Bukayo Saka’s astonishing run of consecutive Premier League appearances is over.
The Gunners star went down with an injury during Tuesday’s defeat to Lens and has failed to recover despite Mikel Arteta’s hopeful claims that he was in contention.
The 22-year-old had played in Arsenal last 87 Premier League matches, the longest current run in the competition that begun after he was absent for a game against Newcastle in May 2021.
Saka had been in fine form too, having been involved in seven goals in his last eight Premier League games (five goals and two assists).
The England international had also scored in each of his last two home games against Manchester City, although the Gunners had gone on to lose both times.
Credit: @PaulMerse Twitter
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
