The “Main Event” of the weekend sees two heavyweights of English football collide in what many are calling a title-deciding showdown at the top of the Premier League.
Table-toppers Arsenal travel to the Etihad Stadium with a six-point lead over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who are chasing another treble.
City have a game in hand so can take control of the title race with a win.
Arsenal suffered a 2-1 defeat against Bournemouth at Emirates Stadium in their last league match to end an eight-match unbeaten streak. Manchester City won their last Premier League match 3-0 at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea, extending their undefeated run to nine.
Here’s how the sides line up.
Manchester City team news
City name an unchanged team form the side who beat Chelsea last time out with Rayan Cherki pulling the strings once more. Bernardo Silva has announced he is leaving the club but leads the side into battle once more.
City XI: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Nico O’Reilly, Marc Guéhi, Abdukodir Khusanov, Matheus Nunes, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Jérémy Doku, Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo, Erling Haaland
Arsenal team news
Mikel Arteta has made four changes to the starting XI that faced Bournemouth in their last Premier League game. Cristhian Mosquera, Piero Hincapié, Martin Ødegaard, and Eberechi Eze come in today for Gabriel Martinelli, Viktor Gyökeres, Myles Lewis-Skelly, and Ben White.
Arsenal XI: David Raya, Piero Hincapié, Gabriel Magalhães, William Saliba, Cristhian Mosquera, Declan Rice, Martín Zubimendi, Martin Ødegaard, Eberechi Eze, Kai Havertz, Noni Madueke
Where to watch Manchester City v Arsenal: TV and online streams
Manchester City v Arsenal kicks off at 4:30pm on Sunday. It will be broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League, it can also be streamed via Sky Go.
Via Now TV, Sky Sports costs £14.99 for a day membership, £28 a month for a 12-month membership or £34.99 a month with no contract.
Sky Sports memberships include access to all 12 live Sky Sports channels and Sky Sports+, which offers live streams and a dedicated channel.
Stats for Manchester City v Arsenal
- City are unbeaten in their last 10 Premier League home games against Arsenal (W7 D3) since a 2-0 loss in January 2015 under Manuel Pellegrini.
- Arsenal are unbeaten in their last five Premier League games against City (W2 D3), having lost 12 in a row against them before this.
- For months with at least 10 games played, April is City’s best under Pep Guardiola in terms of points-per-game (2.51) and win rate (79.5%). By contrast, it’s the worst month for both of those for Arsenal under Mikel Arteta (1.54 PPG, 42.3% win rate).
- This is the latest into a season (MD33) City are facing the league leaders since April 2012, when they beat Manchester United 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium on MD36 en route to winning their first Premier League title.
- City are unbeaten in their last 14 Premier League home games, since losing 2-0 against Spurs in their opening match at the Etihad this term. They’ve netted at least twice in 12 of these 14 games.
- Arsenal have lost their last three matches in domestic competition, against City in the EFL Cup final, Southampton in the FA Cup, and Bournemouth in the Premier League. They last lost four consecutively in February/March 2018, which included defeats to City in the EFL Cup final and Premier League.
- Since the start of February, no City player has scored more goals in all competitions than Nico O’Reilly (6), who netted both goals in their 2-0 EFL Cup final win over Arsenal last month.
- City’s Rayan Cherki is averaging an assist every 138 minutes in the Premier League this season (10 assists in 1,384 minutes). Of players to play 1,000+ minutes in a single campaign, only Cesc Fabregas in 2016-17 (111) and Kevin De Bruyne in 2023-24 (123) have had a better average.
- Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze has either scored (2) or assisted (1) a goal in each of his last three appearances against City, teeing up Gabriel Martinelli’s 90th-minute equaliser in the reverse fixture.
