How can Arsenal depart Manchester with all three points

By Danong

Last season, in April, Manchester City defeated Arsenal 4-1.That setback, coming after draws against Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton, undoubtedly sealed Arsenal's fate extinguishing any hope of winning the title. They ended up losing the league to the Cityzens by 5 points.

Fast forward to another Premier League title race with 10 games remaining. Arsenal face Manchester City this Sunday in what Pep Guardiola calls the 'final'. This game has huge implications for the title race; Arsenal, at the top of the league (with 64 points), can open up a 4-point gap between them and City with a win; City, who are a point behind them but third in the league can open up a 2-point gap between them and Arsenal if they win this game.

That being said, how can the Gunners ensure they depart Manchester with all three points?

Carry on defending well

Arsenal's defence has laid the groundwork for the Gunners' success; the club has conceded the fewest goals in the league (24), enjoys the lowest xGA by far (5.11 better than anyone else) and has allowed 19 fewer shots on target than the next best who is City.

James McNicholas on the Handbrakes Off Podcast calls for Arsenal's defence to be at their best on Sunday, with the hope that Gabriel Magalhaes, who was injured over the winter break, will be fit. According to the pundit, if Arsenal can avoid conceding early, they may still have a chance to win the game, even if it is in the final minutes.

“When we’ve had disappointing trips to Etihad in the past, it’s because we’ve been blown away early. I think that’s what we desperately, desperately have to avoid…I think we’ve got to stay in it; we’ve got to live the game... getting into those final twenty minutes and then it can go either way’.

So, assuming Arsenal can avoid conceding early, what else can they do to win?

Scoring early:

Their strong league form following the winter break, with 33 goals in 8 games, can be summarised by their ability to score early. Only in the 2-1 win over Forest in this dominant run since the winter break did the Gunners fail to strike early. The objective against City should be to score early and establish control of the game.

Pep Guardiola recently claimed Arsenal are more dangerous in the title chase because they 'finish the job' early; we need to see that on Sunday.

“Liverpool need more than 90 minutes to win the game, sometimes more; Arsenal sometimes need just 25 minutes to win the games. That’s why they are there,” said Guardiola via Football London a while back.

That said, do you believe Arsenal will leave the Etihad with three points if they do not concede in the first stages of the game and instead score early themselves?

If this happens Arsenal will surely sail on to win the league by a canter.