Arsenal return to the Etihad Stadium tonight for the first time since they were hammered 5-0 there at the start of last season but, thankfully for Mikel Arteta, the circumstances could not be more different.
The Gunners were in disarray when they travelled to City then, and defeat left them bottom of the Premier League after three games. It was the club’s worst start since 1954, and during those three losses they failed to score a single goal.
Arteta has transformed Arsenal since that embarrassing day in August 2021, and now they head to Manchester on top of the Premier League and five points clear of City, with a game in hand.
The prize on offer tonight is not the chance for Arsenal to extend that lead, but instead a spot in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
We will have to wait until February 15 for a league meeting between the sides, when they face each other at Emirates Stadium, but tonight’s game acts as the perfect appetiser ahead of what promises to be a defining fixture in the title race.
Arteta has stressed this tie will not impact who wins the league, but whether he believes it or not is another matter. The Spaniard certainly will not cede any momentum to this season’s arch rivals without a real fight, and he was quick to add how much the competition still matters.
The FA Cup holds a special place in Arteta’s heart, given he has won it as a manager and player at Arsenal, and there is plenty of impetus to be gained by the winning side tonight.
“It is important to win and play well,” said Arteta. “That gives you more momentum, more confidence and prepares you better for the next match, and that’s our focus.”
Arteta has described it as “night and day” when he compares the team he inherited in 2019 with the one he is in charge of now, and the same holds true looking back at the team he fielded for that 5-0 humiliation in 2021.
The squad was so stretched then that Arteta named two goalkeepers on the bench. The defence that was pulled apart so unforgivingly was a back-three that contained Rob Holding, Calum Chambers and Sead Kolasinac, the latter pair having since left the club. The options available to him tonight are dramatically different, and it is why the team he fields will be a bit different to the XI on February 15.
Previously, Arteta could not afford the luxury of resting wingers Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli but, despite losing Emile Smith Rowe this morning, new signing Leandro Trossard can at least give the Brazilian the night off.
It is a similar story at full-back, where rotating Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko for Kieran Tierney and Takehiro Tomiyasu is a scenario that would have been unthinkable in the past.
Arteta’s selection should give an indication as to how much he is prioritising the Premier League, but just as interesting will be his tactical approach.
Arsenal have a miserable record at the Etihad. They have not won there since January 2015, and in the seven games since have conceded 19 goals.
The win in 2015 was the result of a stoic defensive display, led by Francis Coquelin, but in subsequent meetings Arsenal have failed to match it.
For last season’s 5-0 demolition, which saw Grant Xhaka sent off after 35 minutes, Arteta tried to shut up shop, essentially fielding a back-five at times in an attempt to stifle City.
Given the players he had available, the tactic was no surprise, but one suspects Arteta will be much bolder tonight.
Arsenal are performing with the confidence that suggests the players believe they can be champions, and the way they went at Spurs this month and imposed their style, it was clear to see. Similarly, against a resurgent United last weekend, it was the Gunners who took the game by the scruff of the neck, particularly in the final, decisive half-hour.
The key word is belief — not only our belief, but the staff believe, the players believe.
Tonight’s game gives Arsenal the chance to lay down a marker in the title race. Going to the Etihad and playing with their new-found swagger would be a statement of intent from the Gunners and it would also give Arteta an idea about his team’s staying power.
“We manage the emotion in the game in a much better way than we used to,” said Arteta. “I think the key word [in how we created our winning mentality] would be belief — not only our belief, but the staff believe, the players believe and the atmosphere that we have created with our people in the stadium.”
After they were beaten 5-0 by City last season, Arteta described the following two weeks as his best in football, as both the club’s owners and players rallied round and expressed their support for him.
The support for Arteta these days is of a very different sort. Get the right result tonight, and the belief that is already coursing around the Emirates will jump up another notch ahead of that huge league showdown in three weeks’ time.
