Manchester City suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United on Tuesday night, but with Liverpool being held to a draw by Leicester, they remain just five-points behind the league leaders.
Man City v Arsenal betting tips
>City will be keen to bounce back straight away when they welcome Arsenal to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday 3 February, and they know they can cut the gap at the top to just two-points with a win, as Liverpool don’t play until Monday night.

Get Manchester City to win 3-1 @15/2 with MansionBet

Over 2.5 first half goals is 7/2 with Novibet

Raheem Sterling first goal and Manchester City win 2-0 is 38/1 with BetBright

Two home wins in a row against Chelsea and Cardiff has seen Arsenal move into the top four. However, they could be down in sixth-place when they kick off in Manchester, depending on the results for Chelsea and Manchester United, who play before them.

Attacking wise, the Gunners look a threat, but defensively, they look weak, having already shipped 33 Premier League goals this season, which is 14 more than City. This spells danger as they line up to face the league’s top scoring team.

Team news – Manchester City       

Manager, Pep Guardiola, could ring the changes following their disappointing midweek defat at Newcastle. Gabriel Jesus might be recalled to the starting line-up at the expense of Sergio Aguero or Leroy Sane, whilst Riyad Mahrez will be pushing for a place back in the team too.

It might still be too early for Benjamin Mendy to return following a knee injury and Vincent Kompany remains on the side lines, so the back four of John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Kyle Walker and Danilo is likely to stay unchanged.

Team news – Arsenal

Arsenal have been boosted by the signing of Denis Suarez from Barcelona, and he may well make his debut on Sunday. Manager, Unai Emery, does have something of an injury crisis, with some key players ruled out, such as Sokratis, Hector Bellerin, Laurent Koscielny and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Emery could well keep faith with the team that defeated Cardiff in midweek, so we expect to see Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette carry the threat once more, supported by Mesut Ozil.

Carl Jenkinson could return to the starting line-up, in place of Stephan Lichsteiner at the back, but we expect it to be a busy afternoon for Shkodran Mustafi, Nacho Monreal and Saed Loasinac as they try to contain the City threat.   

Head to head stats

Sunday’s meeting will be the 196th meeting between the two clubs, who first met under the names of Woolwich Arsenal and Ardwick on 11 November 1893 in a League Division Two match, which Woolwich Arsenal won 1-0.

In fact, Woolwich Arsenal won the first three meetings between the clubs, but when Ardwick renamed themselves Manchester City, it was the Blues who enjoyed dominance over the next few years, remaining undefeated against Woolwich Arsenal between 1894 and 1899.

By 1904, both clubs had reached League Division One where the London club started to wrestle dominance back. Over the years, there have been some very high scoring games between the two sides, namely a 7-3 win for Arsenal at Highbury in 1956 and a 5-4 success for Arsenal, again at home, in 1961.

Their first Premier League meeting happened on 28 September 1992, with Arsenal winning 1-0 at Highbury. The Gunners would also win the return fixture at Maine Road by the same score line, before the following season which saw two 0-0 draws played out.

Arsenal would go on to win the next 11 Premier League games between the clubs, spanning from 1994 to 2005. City had to wait until 2006 to record their first win over Arsenal in the EPL, but in recent year’s it is the Manchester side who have been on top, including a 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium earlier this season, thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernado Silva back in August in the opening game of the season.

The overall record stands at 54 wins for Manchester City, 96 wins for Arsenal and 45 draws.

Prediction and betting tips

Manchester City need to respond to that midweek defeat at Newcastle, but it shouldn’t be easy against an improving Gunners. We expect goals and City’s attacking threat could expose a wobbly Arsenal defence. However, the visitors will carry a threat and City will be nervous of failing to win again.

We think the Blues will prevail in what could be a brilliant game of attacking football, dependant on how Arsenal will approach the game.  

Get Manchester City to win 3-1 @15/2 with MansionBet

Over 2.5 first half goals is 7/2 with Novibet

Raheem Sterling first goal and Manchester City win 2-0 is 38/1 with BetBright