Arsenal v Man City
Premier League. Kick-Off: 4:00pm, Sunday August 12th. Live on Sky Sports.
MANCHESTER City begin their defence of the Premier League title this weekend, and considering the record breaking campaign they enjoyed last season, it will come as no surprise that they are odds on favourites to retain the crown.
They broke a huge number of long standing Premier League records, racking up the most points, most wins, most away wins, most goals, and largest title winning margin.
Arsenal may not be considered viable challengers for the title this year, but new manager Unai Emery will be hoping to lay down a marker on Sunday as he takes charge of Arsenal for his first competitive fixture. How different they will look compared to last season remains to be seen, but what you can’t deny is the attacking potential they hold.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang begins his first full season at Arsenal after arriving in January, and after scoring ten goals in just 13 appearances last season it’s fair to say that expectations are high. He will join forces with Alexandre Lacazette and Mesut Ozil, while new signings Bernd Leno, Sokratis, and Lucas Torreira have been brought in to try and bolster the defensive side of their game.
Pre-season has been decent for Emery’s men as well. They lost on penalties to Atletico Madrid in their first International Champions Cup game, but they played well in that match and made up for it with a 5-1 thrashing of a second string PSG team. They went on to beat Chelsea on penalties and end their summer friendlies with a 2-0 win over Lazio, so the future is looking fairly bright at the moment.
Manchester City’s is looking brighter though. They have been in the desirable position of not really needing to sign anyone this summer, but in the pursuit of making the best even better Pep Guardiola shelled out over £60 million on Riyad Mahrez. He may have to leave David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheen Sterling, and Vincent Kompany out on Sunday due to World Cup fatigue, but they still have incredible talents like Mahrez, Leroy Sane, and Bernardo Silva to call upon.
The Citizens displayed their strength in depth last weekend when they beat Chelsea 2-0 in the Community Shield. They well deserved the victory against a tired looking Blues squad, and considering they only failed to win three of their Premier League away days last season, we’re expecting them to start their campaign with a win here.
However, they did concede in five of their last eight trips away last season, and they’re facing an Arsenal side who failed to score in just one of their home league games last season. This makes a Manchester City win and both teams to score look a great value bet 2/1 @skybet.
Aguero looked razor sharp against Chelsea and I think Aubameyang having his first full season at arsenal could bring goals I think both will score in this fixture and its boosted on sky bet to 6/1 for both to score in 90 mins.
Recomended bets
- Aguero and Aubameyang to score in 90 mins 6/1 @sky bet
- Man City to win & Both Teams To Score 2/1 @ sky bet
- Aguero to score Man City win 13/8 @sky bet
- Aguero to score first 7/2 @sky bet
- Bonkers bet: Arsenal 2-3 Man City 20/1 @sky bet
