Manchester City vs Arsenal
English Premier League, Season 2017/18
Date: Sunday, 5th November 2017
Kick-off at 14:15 UK/ 15:15 CET
Venue: Etihad Stadium (Manchester).
Manchester City
Try as he might, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for City boss Pep Guardiola - a perennial winner at both Barcelona and Bayern Munich - to play down his side's chances of running away with the Premier League title this season.
Guardiola rightly pointed out that the current pacesetters won 10 on the spin to begin his first season in charge but, unlike 12 months ago, City have showed few signs of slowing down and they are continuing to brush away all comers.
In fact, it was Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers who came closest to derailing the Citizens' bid for success on four fronts this term, becoming the only side to stop them from scoring en route to taking last week's EFL Cup last-16 clash all the way to penalties.
City came out on top in the shootout to make it 14 victories in a row and 15 out of 16 overall - Everton still the only side to take anything off them - in what could be a record-breaking season if this form continues through the winter months.
Four goals conceded in their last two matches may suggest that the defensive frailties are beginning to show, which so often proved their downfall last time out, but when you can score goals at a rate of over three-a-game it tends to matter little.
The two-time Prem champs have netted 49 times in 16 matches overall during this near-perfect start to the season, leaving them five points clear at the top of the table, giving them a route into the last eight of the EFL Cup and with a last-16 spot to look forward to in the Champions League.
That City are now second favourites to lift the European Cup next May says an awful lot about their form in the opening months of 2017-18, most recently beating Napoli 4-2 away from home as they ticked off yet another difficult assignment.
The stats are impressive whatever way you look at them and, with four mid-to-lower-half sides to face immediately after the international break, Guardiola will not want this stunning streak to come to an end anytime soon.
Arsenal
"Character" tends to be the go-to word for Arsene Wenger when analysing Arsenal's matches of late, having seen his side recover from a goal down three times in a row prior to Thursday's stalemate at home to Red Star Belgrade.
The results were even more prominent given the comments made by Watford skipper Troy Deeney last month following the Gunners' 2-1 loss at Vicarage Road, when claiming that the visiting players 'lacked cojones' - essentially accusing them of having no fighting spirit.
That never-say-die attitude has been clear to see in the three weeks since that setback, however, as Arsenal scored late on to beat Red Star in Belgrade and then bounced back to win successive matches against Everton, Norwich City and Swansea City.
Even the goalless draw with the Serbian side in this week's reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium was a decent enough result, even if it was met by a few boos from the home end, as Wenger's men picked up the point needed to progress through to the last-32 stage.
The bloated nature of the Europa League means that the Frenchman will have plenty more games to give his fringe players a chance to impress in the second half of the season, but for now all focus is purely on closing the nine-point deficit on City.
One defeat in 13 since their heavy reverse to Liverpool in August points to an Arsenal revival, but even that will do little to appease many of the supporters who are desperate to see Wenger leave, with another loss this weekend giving them further ammunition ahead of the two-week break.
This really is a huge month for the Gunners, as they follow up Sunday's trip to Manchester with a home match against Tottenham Hotspur immediately after the international break, while Manchester United and Liverpool also visit the Emirates Stadium before Christmas.
A fifth league win in six matches this weekend is vital if Arsenal are to have any realistic aspirations of catching their opponents, or else another battle for the top four - which they missed out on last term - may be the best they can hope for.
Manchester City vs Arsenal: Head-to-head
Arsenal had lost just 1 of their last 9 meetings with Manchester City, however the defeat came in the corresponding Premier League meeting at Etihad last season. The remaining 8 is split between 5 wins and 3 draws.
Both teams scored in the last six meetings between the sides in all competitions
Yet, Manchester City have a good record at home in Premier League games against Arsenal with the last six producing 3 wins and 2 draws, losing once.
Manchester City vs Arsenal: Predictions
City are looking unstoppable at the moment and the fluidity in their game is getting better with each game. On the other hand, Arsenal keep stuttering in road games and this could be another tough test for the team from London. It was not long ago that the Gunners got humiliated by another attacking oriented side Liverpool by a 4-0 margin. This must go down as a comfortable win for the men in sky blue.
