ENGLISH PREMIER BETTING PREVIEW - ARSENAL VS MANCHESTER CITY

English Premier

2025-09-21 - Arsenal vs Manchester City

A Sports Betting Preview by Auls

Arsenal v Manchester City
Football: English Premier League
Sunday 21st September 2025 - Kick Off 4:30pm
This game is live on TV

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Arsenal

The early loss at Anfield aside, Arsenal have to be really happy with the start made to the new season. On Tuesday they began the Champions League campaign with a strong 0-2 win at Athletic Bilbao as the squad showed the new strength in depth and Mikel Arteta will know that he is managing under increased expectations.

Qualifying for the Last 16 without the need of going through the Knock Out Play Off Round will be the ambition for the manager, but he is also looking to make sure that Arsenal do not lose early ground on rivals Liverpool as they did last season. With that in mind, it was important to win last weekend and remain in 2nd place with just 3 points between the clubs and Arsenal are back home on Sunday where they have a 2-0-0 record in the League.

Arsenal's win in Bilbao on Tuesday means they have won 6 of their last 7 games in all competitions going back to last season. They will be heading out onto the Emirates Stadium turf on Sunday looking to make it 4 straight victories in front of the home fans and Arsenal will also be chasing another clean sheet.

William Saliba was on the bench in the Champions League and should be set to restore his centre back partnership with Gabriel. Ben White and Martin Odegaard are hoping to be involved with a few more days of rest between games, while Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz remain sidelined.

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola went away to New York City to watch the US Open Tennis during the September international break and it felt clear that he just needed a mental reset after the late goal Manchester City conceded to lose at Brighton. The return has been positive, although there is this feeling that Manchester City have gotten away with some fine margins even in comfortable wins over Manchester United and Napoli.

There is no doubt that the first Champions League fixture changed when Napoli were reduced to ten men after 21 minutes, although it took until the second half for Manchester City to make that advantage count. The side moved back into 8th place in the Premier League standings following the win in the Manchester derby last Sunday, but they will take on this challenge with a 1-0-1 away record in the top flight.

Manchester City had lost 2 in a row before beating Manchester United and Napoli, but both of those games were played at the Etihad Stadium. They beat Wolves at Molineux on the opening weekend and Manchester City had won 3 of 5 away Premier League fixtures before the 2-1 loss at Brighton last month.

Rayan Ait-Nouri and John Stones are closest to returning to the squad, but Omar Marmoush and Ryan Cherki are still recovering.

Head to Head

Arsenal took four points from Manchester City last season, but only an injury time equaliser at the Etihad Stadium prevented the double for The Gunners.

That was the first of the two League matches and Arsenal thumped Manchester City 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium earlier this calendar year.

Arsenal had lost 8 in a row at home to Manchester City in all competitions, but have won the last 2 League fixtures when hosting this rival.

Prediction

The last of the weekend Premier League fixtures comes from the Emirates Stadium and it will feel like something of a prove it match between Arsenal and Manchester City.

Both teams will consider themselves title challengers, but Liverpool have laid down an early marker about what it will take to overhaul them and both Arsenal and Manchester City have suffered defeats already this season.

With Liverpool expected to win the Merseyside derby on Saturday, neither of these teams on Sunday will want to fall too far behind and the winner may feel they are the most direct challenger to the Champions.

Home advantage has to be key.

Arsenal and Manchester City are missing some key players, but you have to like how the former have been defending and the feeling is that Arsenal will have the stronger chances in this fixture.

Manchester City have earned consecutive clean sheets, but the fortune has perhaps been on their side and it is going to be much different at the Emirates Stadium.

The home team have strong options from the bench, even without Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz, and Arsenal have looked very good at the back to believe they can largely contain what Manchester City are able to bring into the fixture.

Erling Haaland is obviously in strong form, but Arsenal can cut the supply lines, while also offering plenty of threat the other way.

The Gunners have won the last 2 home games against Manchester City and they can make it a hat-trick on Sunday.

The Pick :

Arsenal 3-1 Manchester City

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll back Arsenal to Win at 1.95 with BetFred