Friends become foes for 90 minutes once again on Sunday afternoon, as Mikel Arteta's Arsenal host Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in a mouthwatering Premier League main event.
Should the reigning champions prevail at the Emirates Stadium, the gap to the Gunners in the top-flight table would be a mere three points - scarcely believable in the wake of their winter-time plight.
Match preview
All bets should have been placed on Arsenal being the ones to capitalise on any Manchester City calamities this season, but the Gunners now find themselves in a situation where they can more or less kiss the title goodbye without victory over Guardiola's charges.
Arteta's men have at least found their feet again in the Premier League after a slow start to 2025, most recently surviving a highly controversial Myles Lewis-Skelly red card - which has now been overturned - to trump Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 via a sweetly-struck Riccardo Calafiori winner.
No matter what transpires in Saturday's matches, Arsenal should be safe in their second-placed ranking before bidding to extend their exceptional Emirates sequence; the Gunners are the only team in the top flight yet to lose a single Premier League home game in 2024-25.
It may surprise some to learn that Arsenal have picked up more points than any other team since gameweek 11 - an unrivalled 29 - and another three arrived in the Champions League in midweek, albeit not without a significant scare along the way against Girona.
After one-time Tottenham Hotspur man Arnaut Danjuma took advantage of some catastrophic goalkeeping from debutant Neto, Jorginho's penalty and Ethan Nwaneri's excellent finish propelled a much-changed Gunners team to a 2-1 success, one that ensured their automatic progression to the last 16.
© Imago
While Arsenal can put their feet up - potentially in their favourite Dubai haven - for 10 days in February, Manchester City must navigate a blockbuster two-legged UCL playoff against none other than Real Madrid after just about managing to save their continental bacon.
Club Brugge were briefly on course to condemn Guardiola's men to an embarrassing elimination from the competition on Wednesday night, but a second-half Citizens comeback ensured that the 2022-23 winners would not suffer the humiliation of a league-phase exit.
Before attempting to get the better of Carlo Ancelotti yet again, though, Guardiola faces up to his former protege with his Man City side finally starting to look like Man City again in the Premier League, if their six-match unbeaten run is anything to go by.
Also coming from a goal down to battle past Chelsea 3-1 last weekend, the Sky Blues sit in the top four for the time being, and little more needs to be said about their second-half-of-season form; they have lost just one of their last 40 Premier League matches taking place between January and the end of the season.
That being said, Arsenal were renowned for their scintillating surge in the second half of last season and come into Sunday's main event unbeaten in their last three league games against the champions, whose dominion over the Gunners ended at the Emirates in 2023 courtesy of a deflected Gabriel Martinelli winner.
Team News
© Imago
Unexpectedly absent from the triumph over Girona, Arsenal number one David Raya is still not guaranteed to make the cut this weekend - according to Arteta - as the Spain international is apparently nursing a muscular injury.
The Gunners boss also confirmed in his pre-match press conference that the tie comes too soon for Ben White (knee), while Gabriel Jesus (knee), Bukayo Saka (hamstring) and Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) remain out of contention too.
However, Lewis-Skelly is now free to take his place at left-back after an independent panel upheld Arsenal's claim of wrongful dismissal, and there is every chance that Nwaneri has also played his way into a start after his terrific strike in the Champions League.
In terms of Man City's availability, Guardiola has confirmed that he is not expecting any infirm troops back for Sunday's contest, meaning that all of Rodri (knee), Oscar Bobb (leg), Ruben Dias (groin), Jeremy Doku (unspecified) and Nathan Ake (muscle) will be missing again.
The Citizens' ranks will receive no fewer than three boosts, though, as Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis are set to return to the matchday squad; none of the new signings was eligible to face Club Brugge in the Champions League.
While a start for Marmoush ought to be a guarantee, Khusanov's debut against Chelsea was nothing short of disastrous, so Guardiola will surely be loath to throw him into the Arsenal cauldron.
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Nwaneri, Havertz, Martinelli
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Nunes, Akanji, Stones, Gvardiol; Silva, Kovacic, De Bruyne; Foden, Haaland, Marmoush
We say: Arsenal 1-0 Manchester City
One-nil lightning could very well strike twice at the Emirates on Sunday, where more of Arsenal's star names will be well-rested following their respective Champions League exertions, and the indomitable pairing of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba relish coming up against Erling Haaland.
A classic is unlikely to be in store, but assuming Arsenal can avoid another high-profile sending-off, the Gunners have our vote to strike once and shut up shop to keep Liverpool on their toes.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
