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Guardiola: “In recent years it has always been a close game because they are good, but we are good too. In many things, high pressing, transition play, they are a complete team. That's why they have been our biggest rivals in the last two seasons.”

“In terms of the table, it's not that important. What will be important is when we travel to London in the second half of the season. It's not a motivation that we have to win in order to be five points ahead after five games! It's about playing well.”

About the team

Arteta is expected to have the same group of players available as against Atalanta, with Martin Odegaard (ankle), Mikel Merino (shoulder), Oleksandr Zinchenko (calf), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (thigh) all missing.

However, Declan Rice is available again after serving his one-match suspension for his red card against Brighton & Hove Albion last month.

Guardiola's biggest concern is Kevin de Bruyne, who was forced off at half-time against Inter with a bruised injury. The Spaniard believes he will recover, but it remains to be seen whether he will play on Sunday.

Nathan Ake is definitely out after sustaining a thigh injury during a match against the Netherlands during the last international break, while Oscar Bobb is out for the long term with a broken leg sustained in training.

Conversation tactics

Adrian Clarke: Guardiola reverted to a 4-2-3-1 in the last game against Brentford after starting the season with his preferred 3-2-4-1, so we cannot say for sure how City will line up. Last season he preferred a back four when playing against us.

Losing possession has been one of the champions' greatest strengths this season, so we need to be very careful when we have the ball, especially in our own half. City scored goals against Chelsea, West Ham and Ipswich through quick transitions, and that will give them plenty of confidence to put us under pressure on Sunday.

In previous encounters, Arteta has encouraged his players to use longer passes to evade pressure. In our goalless draw in March, 17.3% of our passes were judged to be long. We also need to be careful not to get caught with a high line. City have already released the ruthless Haaland for a number of 1v1s this season and in the win against Brentford, Ederson caught his opponents off guard by playing a 65-yard pass that the Norwegian ran onto and scored. When we apply pressure or play man-to-man after the restart, we must not let the Norwegian get one-on-one.

I expect us to retreat into a rather low block and stay compact. The key to a famous victory will be to defend with great discipline while also being able to show power on the counterattack. Inter Milan showed during the week that you can create chances against City by playing through the thirds on the counterattack. I think we have the quality to repeat that, but we need to be calm when those opportunities arise.

Facts and statistics

In 2024, we have collected 59 out of 66 possible points (22 games, 19 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss), conceding only 10 goals and keeping a clean sheet 14 times.

We could become the first team in Premier League history to go 12 consecutive away games without conceding a goal.

We are looking to go four games in a row without defeat against Man City for the first time since March 2014 to May 2016 (six in a row). The last time we kept a clean sheet against the Citizens was in January 2011.

We have won 99 of our 211 meetings with Manchester City in all competitions. Only against Everton (111) have we achieved triple-digit victories, while this is the most defeats City have suffered against any opponent in their history.

Haaland has scored eight goals in his last three Premier League games, including hat-tricks against Ipswich and West Ham and a brace against Brentford. In Premier League history, only Luis Suarez has scored multiple goals in four consecutive games in December 2013.

Bukayo Saka has provided an assist in each of his four games so far. In Premier League history, only Thierry Henry (2004/05) has provided an assist in each of a team's first five games.

Raheem Sterling has scored 52 Premier League goals at the Etihad Stadium, second only to Sergio Aguero (106). Sterling scored for Chelsea both home and away against the Citizens last season.

David Raya is unbeaten in his last four Premier League games against Man City and has kept a clean sheet in each of his last three. The last goalkeeper to concede four consecutive games was Edwin van der Sar for Man Utd between November 2008 and November 2010.

Thomas Partey made his debut, 50th and 100th appearances for Arsenal all against Manchester City. If he plays in this game, it will be his 100th Premier League appearance.

referee

For the third year in a row and the fifth time in his career, Michael Oliver will referee one of our games against City. He refereed our 1-0 home win last season, our only other win in these games being the 2014 Community Shield at Wembley.

He was the man in the middle for our win at Aston Villa last month, one of 11 victories in the last 13 games under his management. City have now won 17 of the last 20 games in which Oliver has refereed, losing only to us and Liverpool in that time, which stretches back to October 2020.

Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistants: Stuart Burt, Dan Cook
Fourth Official: Andy Madley
VAR: John Brooks
VAR Assistant: Richard West

Recent visits to Etihad

The Etihad is a stadium we fear, but last season we picked up our first point there since May 2016 thanks to a hard-fought 0-0 draw.

This ended a run of eight consecutive defeats in all competitions, with a 1-0 exit in the fourth round of the FA Cup followed by a 4-1 defeat in the closing stages of the 2022/23 season. Their last victory was in January 2015, when a Santi Cazorla penalty and an Olivier Giroud header secured all three points.

We have won seven times at Etihad since it opened in 2004, but five of those were during our first six visits before Abu Dhabi took over in 2008.