This season might just be the poorest Arsenal have had in the last two decades.
The Gunners currently sit in 6th place in the Premier League, seven points of the top four. You’d have to go back to the 1995/1996 season to find the last time they finished outside the Champions League qualifying positions. It is looking increasingly likely that that streak is going to come to an end.
Having started the season strongly as they often do, Arsene Wenger’s men have faltered as the year has gone on, so much so that is strongly suggested Wenger will leave the Emirates in the summer.
With a top four finish increasingly less likely, the Gunners may be able to just about salvage their season with an FA Cup. It would be their third in four seasons.
Arsenal’s shot at redemption starts on Sunday as they travel to Wembley to take on Pep Guardiola’s men for a place in the FA CUp final. City themselves have had an underwhelming season, so they too will be hoping for a victory to enhance their chances of silverware come the end of the campaign.
The Gunners have failed to win any of the previous three meetings between the two, drawing two and losing one just before Christmas last year. The most recent meeting between the clubs only earlier this month ended in a 2-2 draw with Theo Walcott and Shkodran Mustafi both getting on the scoresheet.
With little else to play for, Arsene Wenger will be looking to field a strong team as he tries to topple City and claim himself some silverware, albeit not the trophy the fans have craved for so long.
Here the Arsenal XI we expect to see at Wembley this weekend…
GK – Petr Cech
David Ospina’s injury means Arsenal will be turning back to their number one for arguably their make or break fixture of the season. The veteran shot stopper still remains one of the best in the league, and despite not having the best season of his career, will be no easy feat to beat for the likes of Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane.
RB – Oxlade Chamberlain
Hector Bellerin has come under plenty of criticism this season for his poor performances, and things came to head last weekend against Middlesborough when Arsene Wenger opted to use Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as the right-wing back as he tried playing a back three. Chamberlain was excellent and could be given the mammoth task of keeping Leroy Sane quiet for the afternoon as his reward.
CB – Gabriel Paulista
Another injury problem in the form of central defender Shkodran Mustafi means Brazilian Gabriel is more than likely to be handed a start ahead of his team-mate and youngster Rob Holding. Not been a huge hit with the fans since his £11.3million move from Villarreal and has found it hard to adjust to the physicality of Premier League football.
CB – Laurent Koscielny
The Frenchman is one of the first names on the team-sheet at the Emirates these days, but he will miss his partner in crime Mustafi this weekend. The pair have started to form a formidable partnership at the back for the Gunners, however with the German out injured, Koscielny will have to be at his best to help guide Gabriel through what is likely to be a busy 90 minutes for the pair.
LB – Nacho Monreal
Nacho Monreal is certainly not a spectacular defender, but he does a fairly solid job and rarely makes a mistake. He will probably be preferred instead of Kieren Gibbs who, although offers more going forwards, is more susceptible defensively.
Raheem Sterling’s pace may prove too much for the Spaniard.
CDM – Granit Xhaka
The Swiss international might be wondering who on earth he signed for this season, with him having joined a club who finished second in the Premier League last season and were starting to look like genuine title contenders. The former Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder cannot be blamed for Arsenal’s poor show this season and big performance against City at the weekend would cement that notion.
CDM – Francis Coquelin
Coquelin started against City earlier in the month and made life difficult in the middle of the park for the likes of David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne with his high energy pressing and industrious like running, and the Frenchman will be asked to do the same again this weekend.
Will be preferred to the likes of Aaron Ramsey to mitigate the threat from City’s undoubted quality in the centre of the park.
RM – Alexis Sanchez
It’s horrible to think where Arsenal would be without the former Barcelona star this season. With 24 goals and 12 assists in all competitions, Sanchez has very much kept the Gunners afloat and has been their main source of creativity going forward. He is perhaps Arsenal’s only hope this weekend, but he has the ability to take City’s back four apart.
CAM – Mesut Ozil
It has been an very ordinary season for a not so ordinary player. Ozil’s partnership with fellow superstar Alexis Sanchez flourished in the early stages of the season but while the Chile international has continued to perform, Ozil has dropped off and has failed to contribute over the past couple of months.
His goal at the weekend will have done him good, so Arsene Wenger will hope he can build on that and get his confidence back ahead of the weekend.
LM – Alex Iwobi
Should be given the nod over Theo Walcott as he offers a slight more ingenuity going forward rather than just blistering pace. If Arsenal are to damage City at the back they will need to be clever in and around the box and in the midfield, something which the young Nigerian is more than capable of.
Iwobi has had an indifferent time since the turn of the year but certainly has the ability to deliver on the big stage as he showed with his performances in the Champions League – most memorably against Barcelona – earlier in the season.
ST – Olivier Giroud
The Gunners are out of other options due to injuries to both Danny Welbeck and Lucas Perez, meaning Frenchman Olivier Giroud will get his opportunity to show his worth.
The striker has the best goals-per-minute ratio of any of Arsenal’s players, finding the net on every 106 minutes on average. Giroud is often used as a scapegoat by Gunners fans when he does infact have the ability and eye for goal to be leading the line effectively for Arsene Wenger’s men.
Expect him to get on the scoresheet.