*gulp*

Morning everyone.

I was at a party last night and, understandably, a lot of people asked me about today’s game. ‘Nervous?’, was a question I was asked more than once, and I couldn’t lie. I was. I am. I still am.

This feels massive. One of the biggest games we’ve had in a long, long time. Cup final vibes, except I don’t want the players to think of it like that. I’d like them to feel like it’s more routine than that. Just another league game we have to go and win. Like the 21 other games we’ve won this season.

But I think we all know that’s not how it’s going to be. We’re away to Man City. Mikel Arteta versus Pep Guardiola. Arsenal versus the most successful team in recent Premier League history. A game that could go a long way to decide the outcome of this season. Win, and I think we can probably, with some confidence, say we have one hand on the trophy. Draw, and it’s still very much in our grasp. The other outcome, I don’t even want to think about.

With regards the team, I think we need to make ourselves as technically secure as possible. For me that means Kai Havertz up front. I worry he’s not the same player he was pre-injury, but I also think when it comes to winning duels and combining with his teammates, he’s better than Viktor Gyokeres in that regard. It may depend on his fitness, but if he can start this one, he should.

Then, with the midfield trio of Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, and Eberechi Eze fairly obvious, it’s about who we put either side of him. Again, it might depend on their fitness, but if I had to choose from what we have available to us, it’d be Leandro Trossard on the left, and on the right, I’d shift Gabriel Martinelli over. Noni Madueke is just too hit and miss, and too often miss, and as much as I rate the talent of Max Dowman, I think it’s too much to ask a 16 year old to do the job up and down that side that will be necessary today.

There was a clip doing the rounds in midweek of Gabriel taking him to task for not quite doing enough on the edge of our box late in the Sporting game, and that’s part of his learning process at such a young age. Today though, even the slightest mistake could be fatal, especially when you think of where the goals came from the last time we played City. Dowman also provides just a bit of x-factor for late in the game should we need it, and the very least you get from Martinelli is a player who will run that line in both halves like his life depends on it.

How we approach this one is interesting too. Like I said, I think a draw is a decent result but we can’t necessarily go there with that mindset. Our best chance of coming back to North London happy is if we try and take the game to them to some extent. We don’t have to be super expansive, but if you sit in and defend and let Man City take control, it can be so, so difficult to change that momentum.

Mikel Arteta played down the idea his team would ‘park the bus’, saying:

We’re not going to propose a game like this because we never do that. Sunday’s opponent is that good, and in City’s case you’re going to have to have moments that you’re going to have to defend deep in your box for periods of time and that’s the reality.

We have earned the right to be in this position, to be challenging and with the possibility to win and the opportunity to win on Sunday, arguably against the best team and the best manager that this league has ever seen. That’s a huge privilege, and we cannot wait to play the game. We’re going to prepare the game to win it, that’s for sure, and we see that as a big opportunity for us.

Recent form is obviously a worry, they feel like they’ve found something in their game at the exact time we’ve lost a bit of our mojo. I can’t sit here this morning and say that’s not a concern. But, we’re top of the Premier League for a reason. It’s not by accident. We need go there and remember the 32 games we’ve played before this one, where we’ve scored goals, taken more points that anyone else, defended like absolute bastards, and been the team that everyone is chasing.

This could be a day when the pain of those three consecutive second places starts to dissipate a bit. We have it in our hands, and while some might roll their eyes when Arteta talks about this being an opportunity and a privilege, the players must approach it as exactly that. We’ve come so close, and this could the day when we do what’s required to get it over the line. That final push.

It’s not necessarily now or never, but it’s certainly time to stand up and be counted. Let’s hope that’s exactly what we do today. I don’t know what more to say. Back to Arteta, who said:

It’s crystal clear what we are playing for, what we have ahead of us, the opportunities that we want to achieve and that’s it.

I don’t think I have anything to add to that. Without wanting to borrow a marketing slogan, just do it. Please. PLEASE!

Right, I’ll leave it there. As ever, we’ll have live blog coverage for you, the preview pod is on Patreon, and you can find all the post-game stuff on Arseblog News.

Come on you reds!

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