MAN City could find themselves a staggering 17 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool by the time they pitch up at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon to square-off with Arsenal.
The Citizens title defence was dealt a crushing blow during last weekend's Manchester derby on an evening where the Red Devils ran out 2-1 winners at the Etihad.
Consequently, Pep Guardiola has now watched his champions lose as many games this season as they did in the whole of the last campaign.
The Blue Moon bounced back from last Saturday's setback with an impressive 4-1 win in Zagreb on Wednesday night and City will be pursuing a much-needed Premier League three points against Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.
The Gunners ended a nine-game winless streak away at West Ham last Monday before fighting back to draw 2-2 with Standard Liege to ensure Europa League qualification Thursday evening.
Arsenal legend Freddie Ljungberg looks set to lead the north London side once again this weekend and the interim boss will be desperately aiming to deliver a first home win in over two months for the Emirates faithful.
The Betting Odds
Arsenal have only won one of their last eight Premier League matches and that is reflected in the 11/2 (Bet 365) on offer for the capital club to chalk up three points against star-studded City, while a draw for Ljungberg and Co is also deemed unlikely at 23/5 (UniBet)
Man City have tasted defeat in only one of their last nine away games – a 3-1 defeat at Anfield – and as such City make the trip south as odds-on favourites at 4/9 (Bet 365)
The Betting Angles
Arsenal and Man City's recent struggles can be attributed to similar issues – both teams can't buy a clean sheet between them – the Gunners are without a shutout in their last 12 attempts and City's title defence has crumbled on account of a backline that has gone 10 games without keeping out the opposition.
However, both teams do possess a number of potent attackers and that coupled with their respective defensive deficiencies points towards a potential goalfest at the Emirates – and with that in mind, I'm going to revisit a betting angle that I successfully tipped in Arsenal's last outing.
There is no value in backing both teams to score at 4/9 (Bet 365) or over 2.5 match goals for that matter at 3/10 (Bet 365), however, combining the two aforementioned bets will boost your odds up to 4/6 (Bet 365) – a bet that would have landed in 11 of the last 12 matches that these two teams have been involved in collectively.
I've also profited in recent weeks by backing the opposition to score against Man City – a punt that I hit the jackpot with in City's recent meetings with Newcastle and Man United respectively – and granted, the Gunners look a little skinny to get on the scoresheet here at 2/5 (Betfred), however, adding two or more Arsenal corners and 10+ booking points for the hosts is a lot more enticing at 8/11 (Betfred)
The Gunners have scored in all of their outings at the Emirates this season to date, no club has clocked up more yellow cards than the Londoners in the division thus far and Arsenal have acquired a reputation as a corner-kick king this season – all of which has me attracted to the above combination.
In conjunction with that, I'm also going to delve into the corner market in what is a meeting between the Premier League's top two in the corner kick charts.
Arsenal have averaged 7.3 corners per-game in the opening 16 rounds of fixtures and City have racked up an average of 9.3 corners over the same stretch of games – all of which adds to the appeal of backing over 11 corners at the Emirates at 10/11 (Bet 365)
What's more, taking this approach would have banked profit in every match played at the Emirates this season – 11 games in total – and repeat corner kick count on Sunday afternoon looks feasible in what should be an enthralling and free-flowing encounter.
This English Premier League match between Arsenal and Man City will be played on Dec 15, 2019 and kick off at 16:30. Check below for our tipsters best Arsenal vs Man City prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.