Manchester City and Arsenal do battle in the FA Cup tonight in arguably the most intriguing tie of the fourth round.
As the Premier League’s top two, both sides will want to steal the momentum of their rival and continue their pursuit of multiple trophies this season.
Here, we look at three areas the game could be won and lost...
Stopping hungry Alvarez
Julian Alvarez was one of the stars of Argentina’s World Cup triumph and now he’s out to fire Manchester City to glory. Given the presence of Erling Haaland, his chances to shine are limited.
As the World Cup showed us, Arsenal will need to be wary of Alvarez’s pace in behind and also his ability to press opposition defenders when in possession. Arsenal like to build out from the back under Mikel Arteta, but Alvarez will try and stop them. He is a thorn for opponents - offensively and defensively.
The battle for midfield supremacy
A noticeable trend of Arsenal’s recent wins over big sides like Manchester United and Tottenham has been their ability to dominate the midfield. They have been able to impose their style on opponents instead of trying to sit deep and frustrate.
Doing that at the Etihad would be another milestone for this young Arsenal side and it is why Arteta may not elect to completely change his midfield. In the third round at Oxford, the Gunners struggled for control until Granit Xhaka came on.
Tierney challenged to replace Zinchenko
Arteta has elected to rotate his full-backs in cup competitions this season, meaning Kieran Tierney should get an opportunity to impress tonight after slipping behind Oleksandr Zinchenko in the pecking order at left-back.
Zinchenko has transformed what is expected from a left-back, basically acting as an auxiliary playmaker, and Tierney has made steps to replicate it, tucking inside more when Arsenal have possession. A trip to the Etihad will show how much he’s improved.
