Manchester City host Arsenal at the Etihad this afternoon as both teams look to keep pace with leaders Chelsea, who went nine points clear at the top of the Premier League after beating Crystal Palace yesterday.
The Gunners have been in fine form of late, but slipped to a 2-1 defeat against Everton midweek. Arsene Wenger’s side will be keen to bounce back today knowing that a positive result will reaffirm their title credentials.
Man City breezed past Watford in the week, but their 2-0 victory was overshadowed by a knee injury sustained by Ilkay Gundogan that will see him sidelined for several months. Pep Guardiola’s men go into today’s game trailing Chelsea by ten points and cannot afford to allow that deficit to grow if they have any hope of lifting the title come May.
Arsenal’s injury list continues to grow, with Aaron Ramsey, Shkodran Mustafi, Per Mertesacker, Danny Welbeck and Santi Cazorla all ruled out of today’s game. Other than Gundogan, City have no fresh injury concerns, but Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero both miss out through suspension.
Here are how both teams line up for today’s game.
TEAM NEWS with @haysworldwide #cityvafc #mcfc pic.twitter.com/IhBLvYsPzD
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 18, 2016
The wait is over… here’s how we line up for #MCFCvAFC pic.twitter.com/251uHnAiMS
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) December 18, 2016