Man City v Arsenal: Gunners to battle but come up short

No Kane but City still scoring

No Harry Kane for Man City but no problem as they put Norwich to the sword and for the most part they’ll be absolutely fine without the Spurs striker this season given the amount of money that’s been spent on this squad.

Gabriel Jesus provided an attacking spark against Norwich, Ferran Torres can play up top and Raheem Sterling has also got form there. Throw in £100m man Jack Grealish and there are really no excuses even if City don’t sign another striker.

And with Pep Guardiola’s side winning their last two home games 5-0 then there doesn’t seem too much cause for concern – especially when facing a friendly opponent who they’ve beaten in nine of the last 11 games.

Guardiola’s record against Arsenal as City boss reads P10 W9 D1 L0.

Baggies boost for under-fire Arteta

It’s still a nightmare start to a nightmare fixture list for Arsenal, but West Brom helped them out by sending their reserve lambs out to get slaughtered and possibly provide the Gunners with just the boost they needed.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang certainly enjoyed bagging a hat-trick at the Hawthorns, and if he starts alongside Alexandre Lacazette, Nicolas Pepe and Martin Odegaard then there looks to be plenty of threat. Bukayo Saka is an injury doubt but if he plays he’ll also be a threat.

Having that cutting edge should help a side that has 28 shots in two Premier League games but no goals and an xG of just 1.54. Their finishing really needs to improve against City as they’ve not scored in the last four games against them, and in fact have found the net in just one of the last seven meetings.

It may get worse before it gets better for Arsenal, who seem likely to lose their opening three league games for the first time since 1955, but it’s all about the performance here – even if they can’t get a result, they have to show they’re heading in the right direction.

Any chance of an Arsenal upset?

You can get 1413/1 on an Arsenal victory at the Etihad, which is a bigger price than they’ve ever been to win a Premier League game – it sums up the size of the task.

City are massive 1.21/5 favourites with even the draw a big price at 6.411/2.

Arteta and the front three he could field on Saturday did beat City in the FA Cup semi-finals just 13 months ago so he does have a blueprint to follow, and that’s primarily to build on keeping a clean sheet.

That win was their only clean sheet in 11 games against City though, and duly the only time they’ve not lost in that run. In that span they’ve failed to score in eight of those games – you feel they’ll have to score to stand any chance of taking anything from this game.

City have won the last eight straight meetings in the league, with six of those coming with a clean sheet, leading to you being able to back both teams to score here being at 2.166/5.

Given the stats a Man City win to nil will prove popular even at a short price of 1.9420/21.

Sterling’s fine record of City scoring

Raheem Sterling is always one to side with against Arsenal. He’s scored eight career goals against the Gunners, with five in his last six league games against them including both winners in the two 1-0 victories last season.

He’s still just about backable at 2.26/5 to score anytime, and will no doubt be included in plenty of Bet Builders, while his 5.39/2 to score first will also attract plenty of support.

Aubameyang will be buoyed by his midweek hat-trick and at 4.3310/3 to score anytime he will do some business.

His value may come for in-play bettors with a nice stat revealing that the last 21 games in which he’s scored in have seen Arsenal avoid defeat. If he bags, the stats say Arsenal will get at least a draw…

All things considered I think Arteta can get maximum effort from his troops and really give Man City a game – mainly via a much-improved defensive effort – although ultimately City should run out winners by a goal or two.

There are so many markets to look at in these big games, and a value play comes with a shots on target double that’s the subject of a Sportsbook OddsBoost for this game.

It’s 3.02/1 for Sterling and his great record against Arsenal, and Aubameyang fresh off his hat-trick to both hit just one shot on target in the game. Very modest totals for a decent return.