Manchester City - Arsenal | 17/10/2020

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Two old colleagues renew acquaintances again on Saturday when Mikel Arteta takes his Arsenal side to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City and former mentor Pep Guardiola. It has been a distinctly ordinary start to the campaign for the hosts, who go into the weekend five points and 10 places behind their visitors in the embryonic Premier League table.

Already trailing in their bid to recapture the Premier League (PL) title, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City were knocked out by former assistant Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal in last season’s FA-Cup semi-final, but in the league, the ‘Sky Blues’ have won six straight H2Hs. Consistent scorers, they have put exactly three goals past the Arsenal goalkeeper in five of those.

City’s last home match saw them lose 5-2 vs Leicester, marking Guardiola’s heaviest home defeat as City boss. Furthermore, it was the first time in 438 matches at the Etihad Stadium that City conceded five goals. The shock was even greater considering they’d conceded just one goal in the preceding seven PL matches here.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have seen all of their four league matches played so far feature over 2.5 total goals. However, they have been ahead at HT in just one of four PL matches so far, and that trend is unlikely to stop here, as they’ve been behind at HT in seven straight matches against City.

The Gunners’ second goal in their last match came after 19 team passes – the longest buildup after four rounds of the PL. So far, four (44.44%) of the nine PL goals that have come after 10+ passes have been scored by Arsenal. However, Arsenal have seen less than 50% of the possession in all 19 competitive H2Hs vs City since 2013.

Date: 17/10/2020
Time: 19:30
Venue: Etihad Stadium (Manchester)
Pick for this match:
“Both team to score YES” -@ 1.44 ( 1Xbet )