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#1 Arsenal vs Manchester City
Guardiola led his side to a convincing victory against Chelsea in the FA Community Shield. It could be the first of many trophies that the Spaniard would be able to win in this season. Although many World Cup stars have just resumed their training sessions, Guardiola still has a strong first team which consists of Riyad Mahrez, Leroy Sane, and Sergio Aguero. The energetic and strong forwards would be looking forward to facing a vulnerable defence line from Arsenal.
Despite Unai Emery's efforts to improve the quality of defenders on his new side, the centre-back partnership remains a weak link. Additionally, with Sead Kolasinac set to miss up to eight weeks of action and Nacho Monreal unfit, Arsenal is having a defensive crisis. It is certainly a good time for the Citizens to exploit Arsenal's weakness at the back.
However, the game is not totally hopeless for the Gunners. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette both had a great pre-season. They were able to find the net as often as they would have liked and Mesut Ozil looks ready to start all the action in the midfield. Considering the number of first-team stars who are likely to be involved in the match, Arsenal actually has an upper hand as compared to Manchester City.
It would be an exciting clash between the two sides at the Emirates. In the previous season, Guardiola was unable to lead his side to a season without losing a single Premier League game. For his near flawless squad, the team would want to ensure that they set the tone of the season right and climb to the top of the table as quickly as possible. The Gunners would be looking forward to seeing who Emery selects for his starting eleven in the first competitive match under a post-Wenger era.
