“I’m dead”, “We getting cooked” – Arsenal fans fear the worst as 27-year-old starts FA Cup game against Man City

Arsenal fans are nervous about the side's chances against Manchester City on Friday (January 27) after Rob Holding was named in their starting lineup. The Gunners have made the trip to the Etihad Stadium to face their Premier League title rivals in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

One of English football's top teams will be knocked out of the world's oldest competition during the early stages. Arsenal supporters fear that their team may be on the losing end due to Holding being selected by Mikel Arteta in defense.

The English defender has lacked game time at the Emirates Stadium, featuring just 14 times this season. However, he did start and captain the side in their 3-0 win over Oxford United in the third round.

Despite this, he will have the difficult task of dealing with Manchester City striker Erling Haaland. The free-scoring Norweigan has already netted 31 goals in just 26 games so far this season. He has been a nightmare for defenders throughout the campaign.

Holding will sit in defense in front of Matt Turner, who deputizes for Aaron Ramsdale. Meanwhile, the English defender is joined on defense by Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Magalhaes and Kieran Tierney as Arteta shuffles his deck.

Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka and Fabio Vieira are in midfield, while new-signing Leandro Trossard, Bukayo Saka and the in-form Eddie Nketiah are in attack. Gunners fans will be hoping that the latter can continue his rich vein of form in which he has bagged nine goals this term.

They will also be praying that Holding can put in a stellar performance against the likes of Haaland, Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish. It promises to be an intriguing clash between the two Premier League heavyweights.

Here's how Twitter reacted to Arteta's decision to start Holding for Arsenal at the Etihad:

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola lauds Arsenal manager Arteta

Guardiola and Arteta previously worked together at Manchester City for three seasons. The latter was an assistant coach for the former Barcelona manager. They won two Premier League titles and the FA Cup.

Arteta left for Arsenal in 2019 and lifted the FA Cup in his first season in charge at the Emirates Stadium. He has propelled the Gunners to the top of the Premier League this season. They hold a five-point lead over second-placed City with a game in hand.

Guardiola has praised Arteta for his influence on him during their time together at the Etihad. He said (via BBC Sport):

The Spanish coach then hinted that Arteta would have succeeded him as Manchester City boss if he were to have left the club:

About the author

Matthew is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who has been covering news, rumors and match reports for close to 3 years. Learning creative writing from University of Essex, he combined his skills and passion for football take up writing for the sport professionally.

Matthew always strives to go beyond a story and offer unique and lesser-known insights, while maintaining an unbiased tone in his articles. His reporting exploits at the company have helped him gain a humungous readership of 25 million, with one of his articles raking in a whopping 724,000 reads.

A Manchester United fan since childhood, Matthew admired Sir Alex Ferguson for his loyalty and brave coaching style. His favorite footballer is Thierry Henry, believing the Frenchman to be uniquely talented and charismatic. An ardent Three Lions fan, England's penalty shootout win over Colombia in 2018 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment of all time, and he believes that Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe will have a Ballon d’Or duopoly after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

He also follows his local EFL League Two clubs AFC Wimbledon and Sutton United, and spends his free time watching and writing about professional wrestling. He also likes to work out, watch movies and go for night outs.

Know More