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They were the games that dictated the course of the Premier League title last season and Mikel Arteta will be hoping that ending Arsenal's lengthy winless run against Manchester City this time around can have a similarly profound impact at the top of the table. The Gunners have not won a league game against Pep Guardiola and their last win against City came back in January 2015, perhaps unsurprisingly there is no one who played in that match who is still at either club. Indeed almost half of the players have retired.

Arsenal do at least have some recent history to take heart from, their last meeting with City having come in August where Leandro Trossard equalized late on and the Community Shield was won on penalties. Last week, Newcastle and Wolves proved that the treble winners are far from invincible but it is a rare thing indeed for the champions to lose two league games on the bounce. If it does happen then the early title race might take on a very different sheen. Here is how you can watch the match and what you need to know:

Viewing information

  • Date: Sunday, Oct. 8 | Time: 11:30 a.m. ET
  • Location: Emirates Stadium, London
  • Live stream: Peacock
  • Odds: Arsenal +175; Draw +260; Manchester City +140

Storylines

Arsenal: The Gunners will be sweating until the last possible minute on Sunday as they wait to see if Bukayo Saka has shaken off the knock that forced him off in Tuesday's Champions League defeat to Lens. Given that Gabriel Martinelli is also expected to be unavailable as he nurses a hamstring issue, Arteta could really use one of his pacy young forwards to stretch the game and test a City defense that has looked unstoppable this season. All the manager would say is that his No.7 is "in contention."

The return to fitness of Thomas Partey, who Arteta confirmed would be in the squad, does give Arsenal the chance to name the same robust midfield that coped so impressively against City in the Community Shield. It may not be a full strength squad for the hosts but it is not too far off, something this side have not been able to say when they have met the champions of late.

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Manchester City: Meanwhile the absentees are mounting for City, John Stones failing to recover quite in time and joining the suspended Rodri and Kevin De Bruyne, a long-term absentee, on the sidelines. All three have been thorns in Arsenal's side over recent years and Guardiola would certainly rather have them around.

It may be that Rodri is the most profoundly missed with City having struggled to find an obvious replacement in their squad since he was sent off against Nottingham Forest. "Rodri is one of the two three best holding midfielders in the world so his influence on the team is going to be big but he's not there," said Guardiola. "We've coped with absences in the past and we'll have to adapt.

"The team spirit and relation is much more important than any tactic, if you have a good relation if one player makes a mistake your team mate is going to help you. The relation is so important and when we have an absence as important as Rodri we need to look deep inside us to solve it. We can not to start crying and complaining, we have to find a solution and 11 players will be trying to win in London."

Prediction

In theory, this should be quite a close match but it might just be that Arsenal's foibles when it come to this particular opponent catch up with them again. PICK: Arsenal 1, Manchester City 2