Arsenal (H) - Sun 31st Mar, 16:30 | PL | Pre-Match Thread

[skillman]

Where's Bernardo? Is he injured, too?

Pep hasn't played Gvardiol at CB all season but will put him there against Arsenal of all teams? Not likely to happen.

Forgot about Bernie, strangely.

Gvardiol - no other option unless he starts Rico at RB and keeps Akanji central. He’s not the best 1v1 defender and Arsenal’s main threat is width, notably Saka. I know which I’d rather.

 

[alexmcity]

Forgot about Bernie, strangely.

Gvardiol - no other option unless he starts Rico at RB and keeps Akanji central. He’s not the best 1v1 defender and Arsenal’s main threat is width, notably Saka. I know which I’d rather.

Think Pep will go with Gvardiol at LB because he knows what Pep wants from him in that role. Ake to help him playing as our LCB. Ideally, Ake is the best option to play vs Saka, but Gvardiol has zero experience as a CB in a Pep system. Might be too risky to play him there vs Arsenal.

 

[BerkshireBlue]

At some point, the best sides in sport lose their reign. For me, the current Man City side is far weaker than last year - last year we had Gundo, Mahrez and an in-form Grealish. Now we have Nunes/Kovacic and Doku as replacements. Meanwhile we're playing Gvardiol at LB where he is struggling - whereas he was, past season, a world class center back.

Our team is worse than it was last year in these positions - and meanwhile Liverpool (especially) and Arsenal (somewhat) are better.

It's not clear to me that we're the best side in the P/L this year - and on top of all of the above, we have a tough run-in.

TBH - I think we'll end up 3rd in the P/L this year and will not win the Champions League. A draw v. Arsenal would be a great result - but as both sides are so close in ability I don't know who will win.

3rd??? we'll either be 1st or 2nd behind Liverpool have you seen Arsenal's fixtures there's zero chance of them finishing 2nd never mind 1st

 

[johnny crossan]

Where's Bernardo? Is he injured, too?

Pep hasn't played Gvardiol at CB all season but will put him there against Arsenal of all teams? Not likely to happen.

Quite right, if you don't see them walking about on camera they are probably dead.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

3rd??? we'll either be 1st or 2nd behind Liverpool have you seen Arsenal's fixtures there's zero chance of them finishing 2nd never mind 1st

To me, 2nd is just as bad as 17th, anything other than 1st is failure (yeah, yeah, CL spots, blah blah). I hope we finish first - but it's going to be much harder this year than last.

 

[Rammy Blue]

I fully expect one of Stones or Walker to make the bench, we will be fine.

Bigger decision for me is whether Pep goes with Kova alongside Rodders for control; or a quartet of Doku, Phil, Kev and Bernie behind the Viking.

 

[Sale Moor Blue]

Hope Pep calls out the waistcoat wanker tomorrow in his presser.
Its on Southgate if we lose the game.
Utter twat.

 

[SWPISHOME]

I fully expect one of Stones or Walker to make the bench, we will be fine.

Bigger decision for me is whether Pep goes with Kova alongside Rodders for control; or a quartet of Doku, Phil, Kev and Bernie behind the Viking.

It's a must that we go double pivot of Rodri and Kovacic, Clear as day we are a better team with Rodri and Kovacic playing together.

Plus Kovacic has been excellent on recent months.

 

[SWPISHOME]

Hope Pep calls out the waistcoat wanker tomorrow in his presser.
Its on Southgate if we lose the game.
Utter twat.

As much as I hate Southgate and International Football, It's clearly not down to Southgate if we lose against Arsenal.

The only thing stopping us beating Arsenal is ourselves! If we take our chances on Sunday we will win this game.

 

[Withnail]

Hope we turn up defensively. Arsenal will leave gaps to exploit going forward but will be dangerous themselves too.

Having Jonny Boulders and Walker would've eased my nerves tenfold. Especially Stones, he doubles as protection at the back as well as midfield when we force teams deep. Think he'll be a massive miss and I'm that gutted that he's missing, I've partly convinced myself it's some sort of major bluff. Same with Walker.

Presuming they're out, though, I'd go with:

Ederson

Akanji
Dias
Gvardiol
Ake

Kovacic
Rodri

Foden
Haaland
KDB
Grealish (or Doku if not fully fit)


Ake at LB rather than Gvardiol given their dangers are wide (Saka, Martinelli) and not particularly central and Ake is a better 1v1 defender. He pocketed Saka twice last season.

I just hope we win. Shut those fuckers up. The game at their place was abysmal, genuinely terrible but then we didn't have Rodri or KDB. They're back and we should be putting some sort of marker down.

Do what we did last season. Win but while doing that, batter the bastards. Should've been 6 or 7 that game. Would love to see Captain Thunderbird fume on the sideline again. COME ON CITY!

I agree Gvardiol was one of the most sought after cb's in Europe last season, but I don’t think Pep has played him in the cb role yet. Gvardiol doesn't fill me with confidence playing at lb, where as Ake has on the whole performed well in the role.