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Arsenal vs Man City Premier League preview: How to watch, lineups, Arteta, Covid & prediction
Arsenal return to Premier League action after a six-day absence as they host reigning champions Manchester City at the Emirates Stadium on New Years’ Day. Here is the match preview.
Not only are Arsenal playing at 12:30PM on January 1, they’re taking on the side who whip them side to side every season. That’s cruel. Whatever your head may be feeling like in the morning, it might be worth watching with one eye closed.
This fixture would have been the third one inside a week were it not for the Wolves match being postponed. Covid cases within the visitors’ squad coupled with injuries meant Bruno Lage couldn’t field enough senior players for a team.
If you’re out of senior players, you should just be asked to play youth players. But that’s a discussion for another day.
Arteta to miss City after contracting COVID.
— gunnerblog (@gunnerblog) December 29, 2021
I do think the loss of Arteta for this game is significant. He is not just the manager, he’s the coach - very active in-game.
A tough task just got tougher.
@TheAthleticUK #AFChttps://t.co/FPr5BeF8AF
Arsenal vs Manchester City Premier League preview: Mikel Arteta misses with Covid as Pep Guardiola’s league leaders present tough test
Riding high after the 5-0 massacre of Norwich, playing twice inside 45 hours might not have been all that bad, actually. Wolves have won just two of their last eight matches, a run of games where they’ve also only scored two goals.
Nevertheless, with Arsenal having their own Covid cases, the game being called off actually did them a favour. Now they’ll get more rest for key members of the squad and, perhaps crucially, Man City will have played one more game.
What has come as a huge blow to Arsenal is the news of Arteta testing positive for Covid. The manager will not be on the touchline for the visit of his former side, and given his close contact with many of the squad it remains to be seen whether or not the game will be going ahead.
If the game goes ahead, as it appears to be at present, then a tough task will be made even harder by the manager’s lack of animation and on-field coaching on the sidelines.
Will the annual home thumping of City be on the cards again?
How to Watch on TV
When Is Kick Off? Saturday 1 January
What Time Is Kick Off? 12:30 (GMT)
Where Is it Played? Emirates Stadium
TV Channel/Live Stream? BT Sport (UK) fuboTV (USA)
Referee? Stuart Atwell
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