Rodri leaving Manchester City could be even better than expected for Arsenal

Rodri brought an end to his seven-year spell with Manchester City to join Barcelona earlier this week and his departure came as brilliant news for Arsenal as it may be better than first expected for the North Londoners.

The Spaniard joined City from Atlético Madrid in 2019 and made 298 appearances for the Etihad Stadium outfit, scoring 28 goals, providing 32 assists, and helping them to four consecutive Premier League titles, the last two of which they beat the Gunners to, and a wealth of other trophies.

While Rodri was an incredible addition to the league as one of its best midfielders, he was a thorn in Arsenal's side, and Mikel Arteta's team will be happy to see the back of him.

Rodri leaving Manchester City could be better than expected for Arsenal

There are some players that just love to perform against certain sides. Eric Cantona against Man City, Sergio Aguero against Newcastle, even Emmanuel Adebayor against Tottenham. Rodri is one of those and his best performances always seemed to come when he played Arsenal.

During his time at City, the Spain captain faced the Gunners 16 times, winning 11 of those meetings and losing just twice. Those defeats came in the semi-final of the 2019/20 FA Cup and the 2023 Community Shield, the latter of which finished 1-1 with Arteta's side winning 4-1 on penalties.

His best results came in the Premier League, winning eight and drawing three of the 11 top flight appearances he made against Arsenal. Those matches proved to be key in the final two title races that Rodri and City were successful in as they managed to pip the Gunners to the league prize in two consecutive seasons.

It's pretty clear just by looking at the win percentage that Arsenal have fared much better against City when they haven't had to deal with Rodri, compared to when they have. Arteta and his side can now get used to that with the Spaniard no longer representing the Cityzens.

They made a good start to life without facing him with a dominant 3-0 victory in the Community Shield and City's poor performance showed how difficult life is going to be following Rodri's departure.

Let's be honest, it wasn't only Rodri stopping Arsenal from winning the league, but he certainly was a big influence in the games between the two sides. With the Spaniard no longer an issue, the Gunners should be confident that they can finally win more games against City and brush them aside on their way to retaining the league title.

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