MAN CITY vs ARSENAL
Sunday 31st March, 4:30pm
Man City @ 19/20
Arsenal @ 11/4
Draw @ 14/5
view odds
So goes the announcement as you sit trembling in your carriage at the base of Kingda Ka, the world’s tallest roller-coaster; which resides at the Six Flags Great Adventure complex in Jackson, New Jersey.
It may not be a world leading ride for much longer, however; because – in a statement that will come as no surprise to fans of a variety of popular sports – a much taller one is currently being built in Saudi Arabia. In fact, Falcon’s Flight – due to be located near Riyadh – will be the longest and fastest roller-coaster on earth to boot.
But will it offer the collective thrills – the tantalising ups, the precipitous downs, the vomit-flecked corkscrews – of the final ten games of the 23/24 Premier League season? Can it offer three great teams – each desperate to land the top prize in English football – that are currently separated by just one single point? And can it offer two of those three teams coming face-to-face this very weekend?
Well, I’m sure Saudi Vision 2030 will somehow try and reconstruct this fixture for their expensive and ever-expanding portfolio, but our Manchester City v Arsenal is ready to go right now; and it will leave the loading platform at 4:30pm on Sunday.
Yes, we are back from an international break (from which we learned…not a huge amount) with a spring in our step – buoyed by the news that there will be no more pesky interruptions between now and the end of the season. This weekend represents the first plates of a lavish and indulgent 10-course feast.
Though hardly a fresh revelation, one issue that was highlighted in the recent England friendlies was the relative dearth in quality of the back-line. Consequently, there will be an increased focus on the form of international-duty-no-show Ben White in the coming games. Despite not pulling on a Three Lions shirt, the Arsenal defender’s stock will have risen following a week where errors from Harry Maguire and Lewis Dunk were harshly exposed.
Can White be persuaded to re-join the England camp? Does he deserve to be given another chance? Mikel Arteta will be unconcerned.
Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, will be concerned about the condition of his English defenders – Manchester City are likely to be bereft of John Stones; who did turn out for England, but left the field injured. And though Kyle Walker should return at The Etihad, he may not be operating at the peak of his powers after he too trudged off wincing at Wembley. With goalkeeper Ederson also prostrate on the treatment table, it could be an unfamiliar defensive unit buttressing the Sky Blues on Sunday.
Pressure, then, will be on Arsenal to take advantage of these dents; to darken those City bruises. Because they are the side that buckled in the same fixture last season. Of the top three teams, they are also in the best form; having impressively banished their New Year hangover.
Perhaps most significantly, though, Arsenal are also the outfit who have the most challenging array of games waiting to be placed before them. According to Opta, four of The Gunners’ remaining ten can be categorised as hard: Manchester City (away), Aston Villa (home), Tottenham Hotspur (away), and Manchester United (away); plus an as-yet-rescheduled clash with Chelsea.
Opportunities to register a win, therefore, must not be spurned.
After this weekend’s bout, Manchester City, conversely, have only two fixtures which fall into the top bracket. Liverpool are probably somewhere in between, with an away game at Everton likely to be harder on the pitch than it appears on paper.
So I hope you are fully prepped, and haven’t had too much for breakfast. Because we have now taken our seats ahead of round one. And here comes the announcement: arms down, head back, hold on!
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