After 4 rounds of the 2024-2025 Premier League, Manchester City and Arsenal soon recreated the race from last season, when they took the top 2 positions. Man City has 12 points from 4 wins, Arsenal is 2 points behind.
This Sunday (September 22), they will face each other directly at the Etihad Stadium, with the winner taking the top spot (Arsenal also need the condition that Newcastle does not win or does not win by too much).
At the Etihad last season, Arsenal held on for a 0-0 draw, while at home at the Emirates, the Gunners secured three points thanks to a 1-0 win. However, throughout the entire campaign, Mikel Arteta and his players failed to reach the finish line.
Losing in that way is certainly a multiplier of disappointment, but it will also become a great motivation for Arsenal to be more determined this season. The question is, in the upcoming Super Sunday match, will Arteta choose to take the risk to win or play it safe with the goal of bringing back 1 point?
There are many reasons to believe the Spanish coach has chosen the safe option. The first comes from Arteta himself, through his changes.
Before the 2023-2024 season, Arteta lost all six of his matches against Pep Guardiola’s Man City. Last season, in addition to winning 4 points against Man City, Arsenal were also the only team unbeaten in the confrontation between the “Big 6” teams.
Arteta understands that tactical flexibility is important, with Arsenal playing it safe against strong opponents - defending so tightly against Man City last season that Guardiola jokingly said he had to "kill someone" for his team to break through.
Second, the current Arsenal is strong enough to be tactically flexible within a match. That is, while having to defend tightly, they still possess the elements that can switch gears or finish off opponents from set pieces.
Tottenham are the latest to feel it. Arsenal were missing some key players and were behind in possession (38%) but came away with three points from a corner. Optimism in every situation is Arsenal's strength at the moment.
They and Liverpool are the two teams that have conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League at the moment (1 goal). Along with the 0-0 draw with Atalanta in the Champions League in midweek, The Gunners have kept a clean sheet in 4/5 matches played this season.
Meanwhile, Man City only kept a clean sheet in 2/5 matches. Even if Man City scored more goals, with Erling Haaland contributing 9/11 goals, experts are sure that there will be no fear when Arsenal come to Etihad.
Last season, they silenced the Norwegian striker in two encounters, and as Arteta becomes more pragmatic with a squad that is not as highly regarded as Man City, that is what makes them more formidable.
That formidableness is demonstrated by another statistic, when Arsenal are unbeaten in 11 away matches in the Premier League since the beginning of 2024, including 9 clean sheets (only 3 times conceded).
Furthermore, they only let the home team shoot on target an average of 2 times per match. That means they know how to control, block, and neutralize each area or the opponent's most dangerous strikers.
Guardiola will look at other attacking options, but they have to be effective if they don't want to let their opponents take points. Of course, a draw isn't too bad because Man City still hold the top spot, but they will be criticized somewhere because they are rated higher...
