FA Cup: Manchester City vs Arsenal: Predicted lineup, injury news, head-to-head

The fourth round of the cup is back with a mouth-watering clash between the top two sides of the Premier League.

Manchester City enters this occasion after a certain bit of revival from Erling Haaland who seemed to be on a goalless streak for a short span before netting his fourth hat-trick of the campaign to give City a comfortable 3-0 victory over Wolves in the Premier League. Chelsea was humiliated by the reigning English Champions in the third round of the FA Cup by 4-0 and this City side has not lost in the fourth round of the FA Cup since the 2014-15 season making it to the semi-final on each of those occasions. Guardiola’s men still face themselves 5 points behind league leaders Arsenal in the Premier League having played a game more. Their recent form at the Etihad has been a question after a loss against Brentford and a draw against Wolves.

Arsenal on the other hand are fearing no opponent at the moment. After capping off a historic performance against a refurbished Manchester United side at The Emirates this past weekend, they will be looking to further their prowess in this competition and have been the holders of this trophy on 14 previous occasions. Arteta’s side managed to defeat City in their last winning campaign in the 2019-20 season by defeating them 2-0 in the semi-finals. Netting three past Oxford in the third round courtesy of a brace from Eddie Nketiah and Mohammed Elneny, Arteta will be going in all guns blazing as the best to teams of the land for the first time in this calendar year.

Kick-off: Saturday, 28th January, 01:30 am (IST), 08:00 pm: (GMT), Friday, 27th January

Manchester City form (all competition): W-W-L-L-W

Arsenal form (all competition): W-W-W-D-W

Player to watch

Manchester City

Erling Haaland

He has been in red-hot form scoring 24 times in the Premier League this season and he showcased his class yet again by scoring his fourth hat trick of the campaign. A brute force of nature, it is obvious that he will be tormenting the likes of Gabriel and Saliba and will be rooting on his teammates Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez to deliver the relevant service to him.

Arsenal

Eddie Nketiah

Nketiah can play as a striker or as a wide forward, with him being the most potent threat for Arteta in recent weeks. Having scored 9 times in 25 appearances this season, he has certainly filled in the boots of Gabriel Jesus who is still out injured.

Match facts

• Manchester City have won 13 of their last 16 meetings with Arsenal in all competitions under Pep Guardiola, (D1, L2).
• Arsenal have won their last four FA Cup games against Manchester City. They have reached the finals every time they have eliminated the Citizens, winning the trophy on the last three occasions (1971, 2017, 2020).
• Manchester City have won their last nine home matches in the FA Cup,, scoring three goals at least in each of those wins.

Injury and team news

City boss Guardiola has revealed that Aymeric Laporte is now available for selection as he has been battling to make his way into the first team. Julian Alvarez, Ilkay Gungogan and Jack Grealish will be the favourites to start ahead of Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez respectively who have not been in the best of touches in recent weeks. Ruben Dias and John Stones are all available but the inclusion of Phil Foden still remains a question due to a foot problem.

Arsenal are still without the talismanic Gabriel Jesus who is still recovering from a knee injury and is expected to be back in the next four-five weeks. Reiss Nelson (hamstring), Mohamed Elneny (knee) and Cedric Soares (muscle) will be out of the squad for this one with Ben White expected to start again ahead of Takehiro Tomiyasu after he was subbed off against Manchester United in the first half of their Premier League fixture.

Head-to-Head stats

Matches: 205

Manchester City: 62

Draws: 45

Arsenal: 98

Predicted lineup

Manchester City predicted lineup (4-3-3):

Ortega; Walker, Dias, Akanji, Ake; Silva, Rodri, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Haaland, Alvarez

 Arsenal predicted lineup (4-2-3-1):

Turner; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Xhaka, Partey; Saka, Odegaard, Martinelli; Nketiah

Prediction

This will be a close encounter between two Premier League sides who have been the best in the land without any doubt. There is a high probability that it will be a goal scoring encounter but to decide a result is very difficult given the circumstances. We predict that it is going to be a hard fought draw between these two sides who just won’t let each other get past them.

Prediction:  Manchester City 2-2 Arsenal

Where to Watch?

India- Sony Liv

UK- BBC Sport and ITC Sport.

USA- ESPN

Nigeria- SuperSport.com