Next Saturday, 13th of September 2014, Arsenal will entertain the current English champions, Manchester City, at the Emirates Stadium on a match that will open round 4 of the English Premier League.

Manchester City failed to score at home for the second time in just 71 matches and they were punished with a fairly sour defeat, especially because of their inability to score on a match they dominated since the kick-off.

The current Premier League champions were defeated for the first time this season and have not left a very positive image of themselves on the match against Stoke. Manuel Pellegrini continued to explore his usual 4-4-2 attacking style but this time with two versatile forwards, Jovetic and Agüero, up front, although, despite the team’s attacking flow, they failed to grab a single goal from the 16 shots they had on target.

The “new” City has been fairly inconsistent this season. After a slow start on the Community Shield match against Arsenal, the Citizens regained their confidence and were in control against Newcastle and Liverpool, but for some reason returned to less convincing displays on their clash with Stoke.

For his team’s complicated travel to the Emirates Stadium, the Chilean manager will probably not be able to rely on the contribution of the Brazilian defensive midfielder Fernando, who arrived this Summer from FC Porto, since he is still recovering from a recent knock.

As for Arsenal, last round’s fixture also didn’t go as they were expecting as the Gunners were not able to get anything better than a draw during their visit to King Power Stadium. Arsenal’s newcomer Alexis Sánchez opened the score for the London team but just two minutes after that the Argentinean forward Leonardo Ulloa leveled the score and granted Leicester a valuable point.

For the important match against the Citizens, Arsene Wenger will not be able to count on two very important players such as Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott, both of them sidelined due to injury. To make things worst for the Gunners, Wenger is also not yet certain if the German playmaker Mesut Özil will be fit for the match, since he is not fully recovered from a recent injury.

When both sides measured forces at the Emirates Stadium last season, the match ended in a 1-1 draw, with David Silva scoring for the visitors and Flamini leveling things up the Gunners. Given both sides’ recent inconsistency, it is hard to name any favourites, although, by playing at home, Arsenal have everything in their favour to win the match.

Arsenal

Stats: W-2 L-0 D-3

Recent Form - DWDDW

Manchester City

Stats: W-2 L-3 D-0

Recent Form - LWWLL

Possible Line-ups

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) – Szczesny - Debuchy - Mertesacker - Koscielny - Monreal - Flamini - Ramsey - Cazorla - Oxlade Chamberlain - Wilshere - Sánchez

Manchester City (4-4-2) – Hart - Zabaleta - Kompany - Demichelis - Kolarov - Fernandinho - Touré - Silva - Nasri - Jovetic - Aguero

Prediction

Arsenal 1 Manchester City 1