It’s round two for last year’s Premier League champions Manchester City as they prepare to take on the Gunners this September.
And Manuel Pellegrini’s boys will be hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself this time round – after the London side clinched a 3-0 victory against the Blues in the Community Shield earlier this year.
This time round however, there’s much more at stake as City strive for three points in the bid to become champions two years in a row when they face each other at the Emirates on September 13.
Currently, Man City are joint top of the Premier League with Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Swansea City, all boasting six points to Arsenal’s four.
A recent Champions League victory over Besiktas for Arsenal though will only serve to improve their morale.
Newly signed Alexis Sánchez, who until recently had yet to score for Arsenal this season, scored the winning goal against the Turkish team to ensure the London side qualified for the Champions League for the 17th year in a row.
The 25-year-old was signed by Arsene Wenger for a fee of £35 million, and football pundits predicted he would take Arsenal out of their fourth-place rut.
And with goal-scoring abilities like that, the Chilean could indeed be a threat to City this time around.
But the Citizens have a few tricks of their own up their sleeve.
Tensions will be high for Bacary Sagna as the newly-signed defender takes on his previous team-mates at Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Sergio Aguero has excelled in this year’s Premier League so far – he scored the final goal in City’s pairing with Liverpool, making it look easy as the boys racked up another three points.
The 26-year-old has had a difficult summer of football however.
Sports pundits at Sports Interaction were keeping a close eye on Aguero during his World Cup campaign, in which he played through an injury and subsequently failed to score.
His resilience paid off however and the Argentine has now officially earned himself the title of best minutes-per-goal player in Premier League history, scoring an average of every 113 minutes.
They may not be playing on their home ground, but Pellegrini’s XI are certainly more than equipped to leave the Emirates Stadium with three points this September.
Image courtesy of Ronnie MacDonald, with thanks.
