This week's Premier League matches are set to end with a beast of a duel. As Manchester City take on Arsenal, it will be the final confrontation between the top three teams in the league this season.
Two teams in great form may not have wanted the international day that just passed. Manchester City are one point behind Arsenal, but a win would be enough to put them against the North London side. However, although Arsenal have won eight games in a row, their opponents have had the last laugh in their last two games, so Arsenal will go into the game confident that they can get the job done. Although the last two games have not gone their way, City met the Arsenal at the end of last season and won, enough for them to overtake their opponents for the league title.
Chivun Dibny was a thorn in Arsenal's side for the second time in last season's Sky Bet Championship. They never hoped he would be back in time as Dibny won the most in his career and scored against Arsenal.
Nonetheless, Dibny is not the only injury concern for both sides, as there are many players from both teams who did not participate in the recent international matches or have temporarily withdrawn from the squad and are out with injuries, including Aidachen Moras, Bukajo Sakha, Stones, Kialisu, Kilwenga, Gabiel Martinez, Vinlur Ajengi, and Gabiel Magalhaes, among others, and it's not clear if they'll be able to return to the team this weekend.
Deaglan Rice is one of the few players to have played in two consecutive international matches. I was delighted to see him captain the England national team in this international match, which was an excellent performance for him at Arsenal. He plays a key role in a defensive formation of 4 at the back and his ability to deal with Arsenal's dead balls is also very important and could be the key to this game. The modern soccer game has changed a lot and the importance of dead ball tactical handling has increased.
These two teams play amazingly entertaining soccer, but at the same time, these two will have had the most dead ball chances this season (Manchester City first, Arsenal second). Among them, Arsenal have scored a staggering 18 goals with dead balls, which puts them far ahead of other teams in the league. In addition, they have a good threat of attacking freely, which is a very good thing for Arsenal so that they can add firepower and find ways to win games. On top of that, the high threat of dead balls shows how much they have improved their physical quality as a team, something we haven't associated with Arsenal since the likes of Vela, Adams and Beattie.
However, while Arsenal is good at scoring from dead ball, Man City is also good at defending dead ball. The 3-time champions have one of the tightest dead-ball defenses in the world, and have only conceded 2 goals from dead-balls this season. When City plays such a slick soccer game, we forget how physical this team is. When defending dead balls, Rubin Dyas, Ejenji, Niton Aki, Lodi Kasjendi and even Ainin Chalainte were ready to play. Just like my former teammate Duoba, he can excel when he needs to play defense.
This game will be a battle. At the end of the day, we may rely on little things to decide the outcome, such as dead balls, as we saw the last time we watched Liverpool v Man City at Anfield Road. Despite Arsenal's best result in the league this season, City haven't lost at home since 2022. In this match, I think Gaudio will find some new elements to outsmart his protégé Adidas. City will be looking for a narrow win over Arsenal in this Sky Bet Championship showdown.
