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Manchester City are going to face Arsenal in a crucial Premier League match on Sunday at the Etihad stadium. This is a very important match for both the teams, as City are currently trailing league leaders Liverpool by 5 points and Arsenal have just sneaked into the top 4 following Chelsea’s poor recent form.
City have 56 points from 24 matches, while Arsenal have 47 from the same number of matches. If Arsenal manage to carve out a victory on Sunday, it would virtually ensure a top 4 finish for them.
On the other hand, City would have to win to stay in the title race. Any further points loss for them is going to make things much easier for Liverpool.
Here, we take a look at the three tactical factors which might determine the fate of Sunday’s match:
1. Arsenal centre-backs keeping Sergio Aguero in check
Aguero is into his 8th season for City, but showing no signs of slowing down. He has already scored 16 goals in 26 matches this season, and should be the man to watch out for in City’s attack on Sunday.
Aguero scored against Newcastle United in City’s 1-2 loss to them, and would fancy his chances of scoring against a relatively inexperienced Arsenal defence without Laurent Koscielny.
Koscielny suffered an injury against Manchester United and would not be able to play against City. Shkodran Mustafi and Sokratis, Arsenal’s other two centre-backs, would have their task cut out against the agile and nimble-footed Aguero.
They would have to mark him carefully inside the penalty box, as Aguero has the ability to capitalize on a minor lapse and punish any defence.
Granit Xhaka, Arsenal’s defensive midfielder, might also have to play a part in containing the diminutive Argentine striker. However, Xhaka does not have a tendency to drop down into his own penalty box, and prefers to play in the middle third. He would have to alter his playing style a bit and give the Arsenal centre-backs adequate support in containing Aguero.
City have other strikers like Gabriel Jesus in their line-up too, but Aguero remains their key man in attack.
2. City's wingers exploiting the space left behind by the Arsenal full-backs
Both the full-backs of Arsenal, Sead Kolasinac and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, have the tendency of going into overlaps quite frequently. However, they would be ill-advised to do so against City, who have some dangerous wingers like Leroy Sane, Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling in their team.
Mahrez might not start on Sunday, but would remain as an option for Pep Guardiola to use. Meanwhile, both Sane and Sterling are extremely skillful and fast players, and can destroy any defence within a few moments with their probing runs and incisive crosses.
Sterling has provided 8 assists and scored 11 goals in the ongoing season, whereas Sane has emerged as one of the most improved players in the world.
The Arsenal full-backs would do well to curb their attacking instincts somewhat and be inside their own half as much as possible. Kolasinac in particlar would have to give more emphasis to his defensive duties.
3. Arsenal’s central midfielders playing long-balls to their wingers
It would be interesting to see Arsenal’s starting formation for Sunday’s match. They might go with two forwards in Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, or play Lacazette as the lone forward with Matteo Guendouzi, Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey, Aubameyang and Alex Iwobi forming a 5-man midfield in a 4-5-1 formation.
Either way, Arsenal’s central midfielders would have to play long balls occasionally to Aubameyang, who has a tendency to move to the flanks. Iwobi also likes to make his runs through the left flank and would prefer to have quick balls from the likes of Guendouzi and Ramsey.
However, Ramsey usually does not fall back to the middle third very often, and prefers to stay upfront. Therefore, the onus would be on Guendouzi to play those long balls to the wingers.
Guendouzi is not very fast, and is unlikely to be allowed much time on the ball by City’s midfielders. Therefore, he would do well to play those long balls to the likes of Aubameyang and Iwobi to open up scoring opportunities for the Gunners.
Aubameyang has scored 18 goals in 30 matches for Arsenal in this season so far, and would like to increase his tally against City.
