Arsenal vs Man City – Preview (Asia Tour)

Arsenal take on Premier League champions Manchester City in Beijing this afternoon. The match kicks off at 1pm UK time and will be broadcast live on ESPN.

Arsenal will be looking to build on their triumph against a Malaysia XI on Tuesday and keep their good pre-season form going today. They have already beaten Anderlecht and Malaysia XI, whilst drawing with Premier League new boys Southampton in a 45 minute match. A win against City would provide a nice confidence boost for the season ahead. The last time that these two met, Arsenal won 1-0 at the Emirates on Easter Sunday. City won the game against Arsenal at the Etihad 1-0 just before Christmas. City also beat a weakened Arsenal side in the League Cup last season. So if you’re going to bet, it could be 1-0 to either side!.

The Gunners will travel to Hong Kong following this game to play the country’s champions, Kitchee FC, which is the final game of the tour. It will be nice to see a win today against Premier League opponents, even in a friendly. I expect to see another mixed team from the Gunners of youth and experience and expect they entire team (bar two sub goalies) to get on the pitch. Seeing as Vito Mannone got the full 90 against Malaysia, I’d assume that Fabianski and Szczesny 1 full game each in the next 2 friendlies of the tour.

Expect to see many ex-Gunners on the City side today. The likes of Samir Nasri, Kolo Toure and Gael Clichy have made the move from the Emirates to the Etihad in recent years, amongst others. Also, Patrick Vieira is working upstairs for Man City nowadays, so he will be in attendance. He will probably have mixed loyalties, having spent so many years at Arsenal, but he’s being paid by City now.

Come on you Gunners!