How do Man City And Arsenal compare?
This week sees the top two from the past two seasons face off at the Etihad Stadium. Man City host Arsenal in what will be a key game in the Premier League this season.
It is a battle for the ages and one that could have a massive say in the race for the Premier League title. So how do the two teams compare?
We’ve gone through the potential first choice XI for each team, as well as listing possible replacements to give you a full breakdown of how both match up.
For the section below, we have picked the likely first XI starters for both teams ahead of what will be a crucial Premier League matchup next weekend! Possible replacements for the starts are shown in (brackets) and in italics.
Goalkeeping
- Man City – Ederson (Stefan Ortega) – 8/10
- Arsenal – David Raya (Neto) – 8/10
Both teams have reliable men in between the sticks. Ederson is perhaps not as reliable as he was a few years ago but is still an outstanding player. David Raya has improved for Arsenal and his form this season has been excellent.
Defence
- Man City – Kyle Walker (Rico Lewis), Manuel Akanji (Nathan Ake), John Stones (Ruben Dias), Josep Gvardiol – 8.5/10 – Total – 16.5/20
- Arsenal – Ben White (Jakub Kiwior), William Saliba, Gabriel (Riccardo Calafiore), Jurrien Timber (Oleksandr Zinchenko) – 9/10 – Total – 17/20
Both teams are very solid defensively. City play a flexible back three or four, depending on the personnel, while Arsenal tend to stick to a more rigid back four. Defensively the Gunners have been the better of the two teams over the last couple of seasons and that is reflected in the scores here.
Midfield
- Man City – Jack Grealish, Mateo Kovacic (Ilkay Gundogan), Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Rodri – 10/10 – Total –
- Arsenal – Declan Rice, Thomas Partey (Jorginho), Martin Odegaard (Mikel Merino) – 8.5/10 – Total – 25.5/30
Arsenal’s midfield trio is consistent and it is clear who is first choice here. Man City are far more flexible in their approach to who plays and in the number of midfielders selected. However, when they pick their strongest midfield, City clearly have the edge with three of the world’s best midfielders (De Bruyne, Rodri and Bernardo Silva) all playing key roles.
Attack
- Man City – Phil Foden (Savinho), Erling Haaland, Jeremie Doku (Matheus Nunes) – 10/10 – Total – 36.5/40
- Arsenal – Bukayo Saka (Raheem Sterling), Kai Havertz (Gabriel Jesus), Leandro Trossard (Gabriel Martinelli) – 8.5/10 – Total – 34/40
City boast the best centre forward in the modern game in Haaland, Foden who is a generational talent out wide and the pacy Doku. Arsenal’s wide players are exceptional, but there is a big difference between Haaland and either Havertz or Gabriel Jesus.
Managers
- Man City – Pep Guardiola – 10/10 – Total – 46.5/50
- Arsenal – Mikel Arteta – 9/10 – Total – 43/50
Pep has won it all at City, and for most trophies won them several times. Arsenal are still waiting for a major trophy breakthrough with Arteta, but have made massive improvements under the Spaniard.
Our comparison shows that City still have the edge on Arsenal. But how things look on paper and how things turn out in the game, are often very different!
