Arsene Wenger believes that the trip to Manchester City is an opportunity for his Arsenal team to show they can compete with the league leaders.
The Gunners have lost just once in their last twelve games, but haven’t really been tested since the trip to Chelsea in September.
City, meanwhile, remain unbeaten in the league this season, and look like the favourites to take the title already.
However, Wenger wants his team to show the quality he believes they have at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
“We have an opportunity to show we can do well against a big team away from home,” said the Frenchman.
“It is one we want to take and I’m sure everyone in our camp will be focused on that.
“They are good, I don’t want to take anything away from Manchester City at the moment, they are doing extremely well, they are top of the league and top of the European group stage.
“As well it is a good opportunity for us to show we can compete with them and that is what we want to show.”
Fingers crossed. Everything crossed, in fact.
I didn’t have such a bad feeling going into the game since Totenham on february 2012.
You know, when we put 5 behind them…
I’m optimistic about our chances. Arsenal can sometimes surprise us. I’m hoping this is one of those days.
‘The Hopeless’ episode 7382726-10 years and counting.
Yeah just like it was a surprise for us against Liverpool and Watford
I’m not saying anything. Don’t want to appear that I’m not a loyal fan…
It’s only 1 defeat in 13 matches since losing to Liverpool. We have only lost 1 of our last 9 games against Man City so let’s not get too despondent.
We lost to Watford who lost to City 6 nil at home.
We all know what’s going to happen today.
Also Bournemouth outplayed City and only lost because of a refereeing mistake in extra time, and we beat them quite easily. Anything can happen. If we play like the FA cup final against Chelsea we can win.
Cause that is absolutely how these things work.
I have no hopes at all. This way i can’t be disappointed. .
At the moment we can’t go toe to toe against City.. What we can do is change our formation to back four and soak up the pressure and hit them on the counter like we did two years ago.. Hope Arsene picks the right team and get a good result.. #COYG
Trying to convince Wenger to let go of the current formation? Not gonna happen
If Kolasinac isn’t fully fit then going in to back 4 is very much possible. I think he’ll start Iwobi on the right and move Ozil to no.10 and closer to Lacazette and Alexis. That will be very exciting because it’ll be Ozil vs Debruyne straight match-up. Iwobi will be doing the David Silva role for us with his ball retention skills. In fact I won’t mind if Walcott starts on the right because that’ll put their fullbacks on a backfoot. With Iwobi we can keep the ball well and link up play. With Theo it’s about counter attack, running… Read more »
…because then it’s stopping making Ramsey the star if the show what Wenger won’t do to his beloved player.
Ramsey is our best CM atm, like it or not.
Is it too much to hope Ramsey can be disciplined? No shots from 50 yards and then grinning? Just hold your ground, cover and attack when it is the right moment.
He is usually disciplined in big matches, it seems Wenger wants him to play more upfield and aggressive against weaker teams that park the bus.
Why change the formation? If there is one match to play a back 3/5 it is this. We would get murdered with the 4-2-3-1 with Xhaka and Ramsey in midfield. Only alternative with a back 4 could be Coq as a DM or Wilshere as a 3rd midfielder but it would be madness to try a new formation for this match.
Guessing 4-0 or 5-1.
Get behind the team fully and wholeheartedly.
We can do the job with the team with have, especially offensively. Alexis – Mesut – Alexander will provide enough scare to the City defence
Man City’s attack’s fluidity is so good that I don’t think we can prevent them from scoring. Their defense is their weakness and hopefully we can put the ball in their net more than they do into ours
It’s not that I’m pessimistic about our chances today but I’ll be watching the game wearing with a tin hat from behind the sofa whilst drinking huge amounts of single malt!!
You could always bet a handful on Citeh to win – that should settle your nerves 🙂
Oh joy, a Sunday afternoon watching a pump n’ dump by Abu Dhabi Citeh. Can’t wait 😐
Wolves managed 0 0 after 120 minutes
I think by now, even the blind has seen that AFC ain’t competing for anything. What a joke by professor Bullshit !
Gonna be really interesting if Kolasinac is fit for selection or not. Either way, it looks like it’s gonna be City’s 4-3-3 against our 3-4-2-1. If Kolasinac is really out, I’m thinking Wenger is gonna be way more inclined to throw in one of the CBs who played on Thursday rather then shift to 4-3-3 with extra central midfielder (which would be Elneny or Coq – no way he’s gonna throw in Wilshere who just played full 90 minutes and is now considered as a player who fits in the front three). With Kolasinac out, it could be lethal for our… Read more »
2 football teams about to play a game of football. 1 team playing better football than the other. We support the the underdog. A great football club. Currently not in the best shape but still a great football club. The favourites are hot. Red hot owners pumping squillions in, red hot manager creating beautiful football. More Beautiful than ours. But I’m okay with that. That’s football, that’s life. That’s what makes it special and beautiful and eternal. The ups and downs, highs and lows. It doesn’t matter. We are the Arsenal. Today we are not favourite but we have the… Read more »
We can do this
Haven’t we proven sufficiently that we cannot compete? I fail to see how getting a result against city proves we can compete with the best. I’d take the 10+ consecutive years of not being competitive as more of an indicator of our competitiveness than one game.
And when we don’t compete, this statement bh wenger will be forgotten by the team and the match against MAnure will be the one to show we can compete
I know its fucking pathetic. same shit different day
It’s a bit off topic, and although it’s far from my place (still on my country though), i’m watching Liverpool Masters vs Arsenal Masters.
The likes of jari litmanen, David James, Emile Heskey vs Lauren, Pires, Gilberto Silva, Luis boa morte, rami Shabaan, Silvestre, kanu etc.
And David James has just Made the same error he did back then when he were still playing, passing to oppossition striker lol!!
Let’s beat the Evil scum that is citeh and take a Curley wurley on there pitch… after beating them by a single goal in a high scoring game…..
There’s one big difference in this game over the Watford game… city will come at us and not sit back…. this is when wenger and the boys will have more of a chance to snatch and grab….
Thats the one big difference? Really?
And Guardiola’s head has exploded at the news we’re going 4-3-3.
Our invincibles record is on the line FFS. COYG.
A bit of balls please. This is a poor City side defensively. Make it count. PLAY Lacazette
We are not competitive. Our focus is complete shite.
We are playing for fourth if we are lucky.
Lousy concentration. Play to the effing whistle. Track those runners. We don’t do this. Its pathetic school boy stuff.absolute rubbish.
Giroud and Jack on. Its the last roll of the die.
Same shite over and over. Says the same thing Wenger but we are NO WHERE near competitive.
Title chance is gone.
We may even lose our invincibles title.
Crap concentration. Defensively not switched on. poor tactical choices.
turns out we can’t compete. City were never truly pressured and you always felt they had another gear if they needed. it. kind of like arsenal used toe be years ago when we played lesser teams that allowed us space and time to play.