The English Premier League title race takes centre stage on Sunday afternoon when Manchester City welcome Arsenal to the Etihad Stadium in a blockbuster matchday 33 encounter.
Manchester City vs Arsenal
Sunday 19 April, 16:30pm
Etihad Stadium
Manchester City have appeared to be out of the title race on numerous occasions throughout the 2025/26 English Premier League season, having found themselves significantly behind the Gunners in the table several times.
However, the Citizens’ belief was boosted in their 2-0 EFL Cup final victory over Arsenal late last month, when Manchester City utterly dominated against a timid and lacklustre Gunners.
Man City have subsequently defeated Liverpool 4-0 in the FA Cup and Chelsea 3-0 in the league, which has seen them close the gap on Arsenal to six points after the Gunners lost 2-1 to Bournemouth last weekend.
Manchester City now find themselves with a major opportunity to pile the pressure even further on the Gunners, as a win on Sunday would close the gap to just three points, while Pep Guardiola’s side also have a game in hand on the leaders, meaning they could draw level on points with wins in both matches.
Their run of three straight wins against Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea will provide them with huge confidence coming into this match, while they also have an impressive record at the Etihad against Arsenal, having avoided defeat in all of their last 10 league meetings at home.
Meanwhile, Arsenal have seen their results take a significant downturn in recent weeks, with the cup final defeat to Manchester City sparking the start of a run of three defeats, one draw and just one win in their last five matches.
Arsenal will look to draw confidence from their 1-0 win and 0-0 draw with Sporting Lisbon in that time, which saw the Gunners secure their place in the Champions League semi-finals, but despite the aggregate victory, the performances were far from inspiring.
Regardless of their form, Arsenal will be hugely motivated to take points from their trip to the Etihad Stadium, as anything but a defeat would provide a major boost to their hunt for a first league title since 2003/04.
While Arsenal’s record at the Etihad is dismal, they have been strong against Man City in the league in recent years, avoiding defeat in all of their last five English Premier League meetings, featuring two wins and three draws.
Team News
Manchester City are without Josko Gvardiol for this match due to injury, while John Stones and Ruben Dias are also doubts with fitness issues. Nico O’Reilly came off in the win against Chelsea with a suspected muscle issue, but having trained during the week, the EFL Cup final hero should be fit to start.
Elsewhere, an unchanged side that started the 3-0 victory against Chelsea should feature, including star Rayan Cherki, who assisted two of the three goals in that win.
For Arsenal, Riccardo Calafiori, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, Jurrien Timber and Noni Madueke are all doubts, although all five are expected to be fit to feature, while Mikel Merino is ruled out.
Saka is likely to come back into the starting side after being absent in recent matches and Timber could come back in at right-back, while the rest of the side that started the midweek clash with Sporting could start.
Manchester City Predicted XI: Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O’Reilly; Silva, Rodri; Semenyo, Cherki, Doku; Haaland
Arsenal Predicted XI: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Eze, Martinelli; Gyokeres
Bet9ja Tips
Arsenal may have a formidable recent record against Man City, remaining unbeaten in their last five EPL clashes, but the Citizens demonstrated their quality in the EFL Cup final and also have a fantastic record against the Gunners at the Etihad Stadium.
While Arsenal are expected to put up more of a fight than in their cup final defeat, we believe that Man City’s quality and home advantage will prove too much for the Gunners once again. You can get odds of 1.87 for Manchester City to win at Bet9ja – 5BFK6HP.
Erling Haaland demonstrated his goalscoring ability with a superb hat-trick in the 4-0 win against Liverpool in the FA Cup earlier this month, and having scored in two of the last three Etihad clashes with Arsenal, we are backing the Norwegian to score again here. You can get odds of Haaland scoring of 2.10 with Bet9ja – 5BFKFQS.
Bet9ja Odds (at time of writing): Manchester City win: 1.87, Draw: 3.65, Arsenal win: 4.30
