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Preview: Man City v Arsenal, team news, Elneny to start & prediction

By on December 17, 2016

mesut ozil arsenal

Arsenal head to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon desperately needing a win to keep our Premier League title hopes alive.

Tuesday night’s 2-1 loss at Everton was a huge blow, especially with all our main rivals winning the following night, so Arsene Wenger is going to have to pick the players up quickly for this one.

Chelsea secured their 11th victory in a row after beating Crystal Palace today so they are now 9 points clear at the top of the table and that would be a huge mountain to climb if we were to lose at City tomorrow.

Our position in the top four would also be in jeopardy as Tottenham have a great chance to move to within just one point of us if they beat Burnley at home, so the pressure is certain on the boys this weekend.

On the flip side, if we could come away with all three points from the Etihad then our title challenge would be given a huge shot in the arm and City have shown this season that they are vulnerable at the back so we’ve got to be positive.

Team News

Aaron Ramsey has once again been ruled out as he’s still feeling the effects of a hamstring injury while Santi Cazorla isn’t due back until well in to the New Year following ankle surgery.

Shkodran Mustafi remains out with a hamstring injury so Gabriel is expected to continue alongside Laurent Koscielny at the back.

Per Mertesacker is back in training after recovering from a knee injury but he’s still lacking match fitness. Danny Welbeck is due back in training next week but he too remains on the sidelines tomorrow.

As for City, they will be without Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho through suspension – which is a huge bonus for us.

Vincent Kompany is also out as he continues to struggle with a knee injury while Ilkay Gundogan has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.

Preferred line-up

I’d like to see Kieran Gibbs given a chance at left-back tomorrow. Nacho Monreal hasn’t been at his best this season and was poor again on Tuesday night so let’s give Gibbsy a chance.

No doubt Wenger will stick with Coquelin but I think Mohamed Elneny should start alongside Granit Xhaka. Coquelin’s tendency to give away cheap fouls and pick up cards worries me in big games. We need a cool head and someone who’ll use the ball wisely when we have possession and Elneny can give us that.

This would be my line-up:

Man City: Bravo, Zabaleta, Otamendi, Stones, Clichy, Fernando, Youre, Silva, Sterling, De Bruyne, Nolito.

Prediction

It’s safe to say a lot of the boys went missing on Tuesday night so it’s time the likes of Mesut Ozil stood up as this is a game we simply can not afford to lose. Players like Sanchez will always put the effort in but Ozil doesn’t seem to like it when the going gets tough. Well we’re in the sh*t Mesut and we need you, so show us why you’re worth the £250k contract you’re after.

City’s defence is vulnerable, no question about it. If we play on the counter-attack and utilise the pace of Walcott, The Ox and Sanchez we can have some joy. I can’t bare thinking about a defeat so I’m going to back the boys to nick a 2-1 win! Man City 1-2 Arsenal