It's game day! Arsenal mark their second outing in the space of four days with a big match against Manchester City.
Mikel Arteta's side have struggled of late. Since crashing out of the FA Cup fourth round at the hands of this evening's opponents, they've been beaten by Everton and held to a 1-1 draw by Brentford in the Premier League - albeit the latter result was extremely controversial.
Therefore, ahead of the top two teams in the country going head-to-head at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal's lead at the summit currently stands at three and victory for either side, whilst it won't be decisive, could play a huge role in the outcome of this season's title race.
READ MORE: Arsenal predicted XI vs Manchester City as Gabriel Martinelli starts but Leandro Trossard ready
Much has been said about what changes Arteta could make to his line-up with some supporters calling for Leandro Trossard to replace Gabriel Martinelli, but it's almost impossible for the Spaniard to predict what his opposite number Pep Guardiola will do with the Man City team.
In the 3-1 win over Aston Villa at the weekend, despite Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Ruben Dias and Aymeric all being restored to the starting line-up, the big surprise was that Bernardo Silva was tasked with operating at left-back when City were out of possession before pushing into a midfield role when the hosts had the ball.
So, does the Spanish tactician have another surprise up his sleeve for the Gunners?
Well, he does have the luxury of a virtually fully fit first-team squad to choose from with defender John Stones the only confirmed absentee, but Erling Haaland - last summer's £51.2m signing from Borussia Dortmund - is all but set to keep his place in the matchday squad after being substituted in the 3-1 win over Aston Villa.
Although, when speaking in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Guardiola was specifically asked about the Norway international fitness and was non-committal: "We train this afternoon. Right now I don’t know," he said. "Yesterday was about recovery from Aston Villa. That's all."
With that said, as per our friends at the Manchester Evening News, the predicted Man City team has Haaland leading the line, Nathan Ake recalled after dropping to the bench against Villa and Jack Grealish handed another chance to play at a ground he's previously said in his "favourite stadium in the Premier League".
Elsewhere, Kyle Walker and De Bruyne are tipped to start for the visitors as well as Riyad Mahrez and Rodri who both scored in the corresponding fixture last season but there's no place in the line-up for the likes of Silva, Manuel Akanji, Phil Foden or youngster Rico Lewis.
Predicted Man City XI vs Arsenal (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Ake; Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish
You can watch live coverage of Arsenal vs Man City on Amazon Prime tonight here.
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