Football writer Ben Bloom assesses which of Arsenal or Manchester City will showcase their title credentials in huge match at Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Manchester City’s return to form – comfortably navigating the Manchester derby last Sunday and also winning their UEFA Champions League opener against Napoli in midweek – is set to be tested this weekend with a trip to Arsenal.
The visitors at Emirates Stadium will be in the unfamiliar position of underdogs, having been the favourites whenever the two clubs have met during Pep Guardiola’s reign - a period featuring six Premier League titles to Arsenal’s none.
With Man City finishing behind Arsenal for the first time in a decade last season, and suffering successive league defeats last month to Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion, it is Mikel Arteta’s men – not Guardiola’s – who are being spoken of as Liverpool’s main title rivals again.
Also, Man City have not won any of their last four Premier League meetings with Arsenal. Guardiola is staring at the very real prospect of a five-match winless streak against an opponent for the first time in his top-flight career.
But can Man City halt the slide on Sunday? Could their victories over Manchester United and the Serie A champions Napoli in the last week give them the confidence boost they require to restore their overall dominance against Arsenal?
Or will their first encounter with a top-seven team from last season show the past few days to be a false dawn?
Record-breaker Haaland
The last time Man City played at Emirates Stadium, at the start of February, the match ended in what Guardiola deemed a “disaster”.
All square at 1-1 after 10 minutes of the second half, Arsenal promptly proceeded to add four more goals in a thumping 5-1 scoreline.
Following the near-permanent success of the preceding few years, the 2024/25 campaign proved a watershed moment of the Guardiola era.
Vowing to restore Man City to winning ways, the head coach signed a two-year contract extension and embarked on strengthening his squad over the summer, only for his side to lose two of their opening three fixtures this campaign.
A re-invented team, featuring various new faces, are still finding their feet under an evolved playing style. But recent signs are promising.
Having hammered local rivals Man Utd 3-0, Man City then found a route past a stubborn 10-man Napoli side to win 2-0.
A familiar face has been at the heart of the upturn. In scoring the opener against the Italian club, Haaland reached 50 Champions League goals in just 49 appearances – 13 matches quicker than any other player in the competition’s history.
Added to the brace he scored against Man Utd, it took the Norwegian’s tally for club and country to an astonishing 12 goals in just seven matches so far this season.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” said Guardiola. “We are lucky to have him. Just to congratulate him, because he’s alongside goalscorers like [Ruud] Van Nistelrooy, [Robert] Lewandowski, but especially the two monsters Cristiano [Ronaldo] and [Lionel] Messi.”
Phil Foden described his team-mate as “unbelievable”, suggesting “it’s unheard of what he’s doing”.
‘The Phil we know’
In fact, Foden has also been a key component of Man City’s recent wins, marking his own resurgence.
The midfielder struggled for consistency in 2024/25, having been crowned Premier League Player of the Season in the previous campaign, when he scored 19 goals and registered eight assists.
In the past week, he has scored against Man Utd, as well as providing a delightful clipped ball to assist Haaland’s goal against Napoli.
“You could not imagine how much I missed him,” Guardiola said of Foden.
“The last two games have been the Phil that we know. He brings a sense of danger close to the box and he could have scored again.
“We are so happy because I know [when] he is happy and he has joy and his life is fine, the rest is natural. His incredible talent comes along.”
The return to form of the two starring men from Man City’s last Premier League title-winning campaign is timely as the team adapts to a slightly altered approach this season.
With the departure of Ederson, Guardiola has replaced the league’s best ball-playing goalkeeper with one of the world’s finest showstoppers in Gianluigi Donnarumma – a man who spectacularly kept Arsenal at bay for Paris Saint-Germain in last season’s Champions League semi-final.
It was the Italian’s early long ball up field against Napoli that found its way to Foden, whose quick release to Haaland lured captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo into scything down the Norwegian and receiving a red card.
Such direct play would rarely have been seen under Guardiola in seasons gone by.
Arsenal’s ‘unbelievable squad’
If Man City have shifted their style slightly this campaign, so have Arsenal.
Having been hampered by injuries to key players in previous title races, Arteta has now compiled one of the strongest squads in the Premier League, with almost unrivalled depth at his disposal.
Watch: The Breakdown of Arsenal's new signings and Arteta's tactics
The arrival of Viktor Gyokeres to lead the line has created the type of large presence up top that had long been absent with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz.
With it has come a similar tactical shift to Man City – an alteration interestingly replicated across the Premier League – of playing more direct into their Swedish target man.
The similarities between Sunday’s two strikers does not end there.
While Gyokeres has applied more pressures in the final third than any other player in the Premier League this season, his Man City counterpart Haaland tops the league standings for pressures in the opponent’s penalty area.
At the base of midfield, Arsenal have also copied another Man City playbook with the recruitment of Martin Zubimendi to fulfil the same vital role as his Spanish compatriot Rodri.
It was a huge bonus that Zubimendi scored an unexpected double against Nottingham Forest in their last Premier League outing.
Watch Zubimendi's two goals v Forest
“They have been wise,” said Guardiola of Arsenal’s squad strengthening. “They spent what they believe they can do to compete against the best teams in the Premier League and Europe, and they’ve reached that level.
“Step by step, window by window, step by step, Arsenal is getting better. So last season in Europe, they made an incredible step forward, and they are for me the most solid team. They don’t make mistakes at the back.
“They have pace up front. They have, of course, set pieces. It’s in every department.
“It is an unbelievable squad and an unbelievable team. It is one of the toughest opponents you can find now in Europe.”
It would be quite some achievement if Man City can cap off a brilliant week by beating Arsenal.