By their own lofty standards, Manchester City have not made the start to the season they would have liked.
Pepe Guardiola’s side lies 14th in the table after picking up four points from their opening three matches and losing 5-2 at home to Leicester.
But Mikel Arteta still expects a major test against them – despite coming into the game off the back of a good win before the international break.
“I am really happy with the way we managed to win the game and how patient we were, and the improvements compared with last year against this type of opposition but again, we know the level of difficulty at Manchester City will be another level.
Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne will miss Saturday’s game because of the unspecified injury he sustained on international duty this week.
Raheem Sterling is fit, while Sergio Aguero might feature for the first time since requiring knee surgery in June.
Arsenal’s £45m deadline day signing Thomas Partey could make his debut
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
- Manchester City are unbeaten in nine Premier League meetings – scoring at least twice in each of them – since a 1-2 defeat in December 2015 (W7, D2).
- Arsenal could lose seven league matches in a row against the same opponent for the first time since doing so versus Ipswich between 1974 and 1977.
- The Gunners’ solitary victory in their past nine away league games against City came in January 2015.
- However, Arsenal won the most recent competitive meeting, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring both goals in an FA Cup semi-final tie in July.
Manchester City
- Manchester City’s tally of four points is their lowest after three games of a season since 2010-11.
- They have only twice lost both of their opening two home fixtures in a season: 1930-31 and 1953-54.
- City could lose consecutive Premier League home matches for the first time since February 2016 under Manuel Pellegrini.
- Pep Guardiola’s side will start the day in the bottom half of the table for the third time in four games this season, as many as in their previous 375 Premier League matches.
- They haven’t gone three league matches without a win since a run of four in April 2017.
- Manchester City have earned 25 points from their past 10 home league games against other established top-six teams, only losing to Manchester United in December 2019.
- Kevin De Bruyne has been involved in seven goals in his last eight league starts against Arsenal, scoring five and setting up two.
- Raheem Sterling has scored an unrivalled 34 goals among Premier League players in all competitions since the start of last season.
Arsenal
- The Gunners have won eight of their past 12 Premier League games, one more than they had in their previous 28 attempts.
- Arsenal’s tally of 25 points from those 12 fixtures is the joint highest in the division, along with Liverpool.
- They could win four of their opening five league matches in a season for the first time since 2013-14.
- Nonetheless, Arsenal has failed to beat another established top-six team in 28 Premier League away fixtures since a 2-0 victory over Manchester City in January 2015 (D10, L18).
- Only West Brom and Burnley have attempted fewer shots than Arsenal’s 29 in the Premier League this season, but only Leicester can better the Gunners’ 28% conversion rate.
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has played 450 Premier League minutes without scoring against Manchester City, his worst record against any side in England. He missed a penalty in this fixture in March 2018 but did score both goals in Arsenal’s FA Cup semi-final win against City last season.
- Alexandre Lacazette could score in four consecutive league appearances for Arsenal for the first time.