Arsenal vs. Manchester City: Midfield area will decide the game

Arsenal vs. Manchester City will be a game not to be missed this weekend. The midfield area in particular will be crucial to deciding which way the games goes.

A headline game in the Premier League this weekend will be Arsenal vs. Manchester City. Two clubs fighting to finish in the top four positions. Two clubs with very similar playing styles, strengths and weaknesses.

Both teams play a possession game and are amongst the best teams in the league to watch when in peak form. Both clubs have also had their issues this season. Pep Guardiola’s first season in Manchester has been a struggle at times.

Whilst Arsene Wenger has once again failed to deliver in regards to the Premier League title. Arsenal are in serious danger of missing out on a top four spot altogether at this point, never mind winning the title.

But although there are many similarities between City and Arsenal this year, the difference between the two clubs is a matter of time. Wenger has been at Arsenal now for more than 20 years. Guardiola is yet to complete just one.

Which is why Wenger and Arsenal are heading for a crossroads in the summer, and City will just be heading for a pit stop to re-fuel and go again. Where Guardiola will be mainly looking to boost will be his defense.

City have been poor defensively this season, and that is one area where the Gunners can surely hurt City on Sunday. Arsenal, for all their flaws, are good at picking holes in an opposition’s leaky defense.

To counteract that, Guardiola will likely want to control possession and push Arsenal into their own half, rather than City’s. Arsenal are a possession team, too, though. Which is why the midfield is going to be the area of the pitch that decides this game.

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Whoever controls possession is going to force the other team into playing a way that they do not want to and are not used to. Wenger has been using the likes of Granit Xhaka, Francis Coquelin, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Aaron Ramsey in his midfield lately.

Whilst Guardiola has generally stuck to a trio of David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and either Yaya Toure or Fernandinho in his engine room. Neither unit is defensively gifted, as we have established. So who wins the battle in the center of the park should go a long way to determining who might win this crunch clash.

Whichever team has the ball has a good chance of exposing the other team defensively. Not just defensively, though, but Arsenal have also been found wanting for work rate and physicality at times this season.

Even when it was Arsenal vs. Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium earlier this season, the Gunners won the first half, but were then turned over in the second half when City ramped up the intensity and energy levels.

Next: Predicting Arsenal vs. Manchester City, all weekend games

Technically, it was close between the two teams. But when it came to the more physical side of the game, City took over. And Guardiola’s team aren’t exactly known for being physical and tough themselves. That’s the worrying sign for Arsenal.

So can the Gunners win the midfield battle for 90 minutes this time against City? They’ll have to. Whoever wins the battle in midfield, will win the war on the scoreboard.

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