Arteta drops massive Eze selection hint for Sunday and everybody missed it

Pep Guardiola brings his Manchester City team to the Emirates on Sunday for a showdown that neither team can afford to lose – even at this early stage of the season. Mikel Arteta might spring a selection surprise or two.

Arteta's Arsenal seem to have Guardiola's City's number. Unbeaten in four, the student has truly become the master in recent times. However, only a fool would underestimate Pep.

After suffering defeats at the hands of Brighton and Tottenham, Guardiola has returned to his tried and tested style of playing between the lines.

Rodri, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva are well versed in Pep's modus operandi and Arteta made sure to refer to it in his presser ahead of Sunday's match.

Arteta admits to modifying his midfield for City

Asked about what type of game he is expecting on Sunday, Arteta was typically guarded. He spoke about modifying a few things “because of the quality of the midfield, which is normal.“ The implications for Arteta's team selection will be to react to City's strengths.

Christian Nørgaard could start alongside Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi, in an effort to limit spaces between the midfield and defensive lines. Mikel Merino could be sacrificed as an attacking midfielder for the more defensively minded Nørgaard.

Eze could be switched to a central position

Arteta may have even considered conceding territory on his left flank and the boss dropped a massive hint that Eze could switch to a more central position on Sunday.

Against Athletic Club Bilbao in midweek, Eze struggled to have an impact. His link up play with Riccardo Calafiori was non-existant and he failed to attack the full-back when he did have the ball.

Furthermore, when Calafiori bombed on or drifted into midfield areas, the left side was totally exposed. You can be certain that Guardiola will have identified this as a weakness to exploit.

Abdukodir Khusanov, City's Uzbeki right-back, likes to get forward. The Eze/Calafiori combo might not be the best one against a side looking to play between the lines and create overloads.

Lewis-Skelly and Calafiori could both start

A conservative incarnation of Arteta might even consider playing both Myles Lewis-Skelly and Riccardo Calafiori against City, focusing attacks through the centre and down the right. Either way, one might expect to see Eze shifted to the centre where he could give Rodri plenty to think about.

Asked about whether Eze should be a touchline winger, Arteta dropped a massive selection hint. “It depends on the positioning, in one space or another, it’s never the same,“ he told reporters. This suggests that Arteta is open to the idea of playing Eze in different positions and further forward than we saw in Spain.

Arteta's in-game management has evolved and after a pre-match game of bluff and double bluff, both managers will surely need to react and adapt to each other's strategic in-game moves. Arteta and Guardiola have a knack of cancelling each other out and producing dour stalemates. Don't expect this to be an end-to-end goalfest. Substitutes may prove decisive again.