It’s Manchester City vs Arsenal in the FA Cup tomorrow, and here’s our predicted XI for the big game at the Etihad.
Even though we’ve officially reached the halfway point of the season, the Gunners and Pep Guardiola’s side are yet to face each other in the Premier League.
That wait will continue until the middle of next month, but we’ll see the two sides in action in the FA Cup tomorrow night.
Predicted Arsenal XI vs Manchester City
Our last game was on Sunday and the next is not until the fourth of February. That’s enough reason for Mikel Arteta to go with his full-strength starting lineup, but we still expect the Arsenal boss to make a few changes.
Matt Turner will likely start in goal in place of Aaron Ramsdale, with a back four of Takehiro Tomiyasu, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Oleksandr Zinchenko.
New signing Jakub Kiwior is expected to start on the bench.
We were tempted to go with Kieran Tierney, but the role Zinchenko plays when he slots in as a midfielder makes us a much more balanced side, and we feel that will be important against the defending Premier League champions.
In midfield, we expect Arteta to stick with Granit Xhaka and Thomas Partey. Both players have been outstanding for us this season, and if they have a good game, we should be able to come away with something.
Fabio Vieira and Emile Smith Rowe are both fit and raring to go, but we expect Arteta to continue with Martin Odegaard in the number 10 role. The Norwegian is one of our most important players, and he’ll be key against City tomorrow.
Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka are set to keep their place in the side, but we expect Gabriel Martinelli to get a break. In his place, we think Leandro Trossard will get his full debut after his impressive cameo against Manchester United last weekend.
Predicted Arsenal XI vs Manchester City: Turner, Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Xhaka, Partey, Odegaard, Saka, Nketiah, Trossard.
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