Manchester City vs Arsenal tips preview: Master meets prodigy in huge FA Cup showdown

Paul Bathurst
26 January 2023

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta

As Arsenal visit Manchester City on Friday night, Tipstrr football expert Paul Bathurst asks if Mikel Arteta will be willing to lose this FA Cup battle in order to win the Premier League war.

Surely even the most optimistic of Arsenal fans could not have hoped for their side to lead the Premier League by five points halfway through the season.

Manchester City, who started the season as heavy title favourites, are the side in second place, and they have also played a game more than the Gunners.

Pep Guardiola must have mixed feelings about how this unlikely title race has developed, as it was not so long ago that the City boss was teaching the trade to Mikel Arteta, as they won two titles together.

Pep perhaps taught his apprentice too well, and now his prodigy has become his fiercest competitor, with the very real prospect that Arteta could perhaps ultimately become the master?

As fate would have it, England's two best teams, and arguably the two best coaches, have been drawn together in the blockbuster tie of the FA Cup 4th round.

Arsenal results silence critics

Arsenal have shown their pedigree numerous times in recent weeks, despite frequent doubts from many within the footballing world.

The Gunners dominated North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, easing to a 2-0 victory away from home, which could easily have been a higher score.

Just a week later they faced a sterner test from Erik ten Hag's high-flying Manchester United side, and again they passed with flying colours, winning 3-2 thanks to a late Eddie Nketiah winner.

Even more than the vital three points, it was the manner of the performance that was most impressive, with Arsenal ending up with 2.75xG compared with Man Utd's mere 0.29xG.

Strength in depth could be key

The main reason why many pundits continue to express concerns over Arsenal lifting the league title, is the worry that their squad may be too light in terms of quality.

Man-for-man, Arteta's starting eleven is superb, but should a key man such as Martin Odegaard miss a few games, who will come in as their creative maestro?

If their local hero Bukayo Saka was to pick up a knock, could Reiss Nelson or their latest acquisition, Leandro Trossard, match the output of England's World Cup star?

Gabriel Jesus, ironically signed from City in the summer, has been missing since the World Cup with a serious injury.

The forward is widely regarded within the Arsenal fanbase as the 'final piece of the jigsaw', and it's not all about his goals with the Brazilian, as his link-up play and work-rate were incredible during his short stint at the Emirates before being sidelined.

Eddie Nketiah has come into the side and, it's fair to say, has exceeded expectations, but whether Arsenal could handle a repeat situation with other key players remains to be seen.

Manchester City, on the other hand, have one of the most incredible squads in world football, and at the weekend the league champions comfortably dispatched Wolves 3-0.

Haaland the robot

Erling Haaland netted his fourth hat-trick of the season, and is now just one treble short of Alan Shearer's record of five in a season.

Haaland has comically been dubbed a goalscoring robot by the footballing world, and the Norwegian's 25 league goals already exceeds the totals of the past four Golden Boot winners, and that's with 18 league games still to play.

Whilst it wasn't necessary, should Guardiola have needed to change the pattern of the Wolves game, he had the luxury of calling on Bernardo Silva, Ruben Dias, Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo as well as World Cup winner Julian Alvarez from a star-studded bench.

In another world, City could enter two teams into the Premier League, and both would likely end up in the top four.

City frequently rotate their squad for cup games; Ederson is always given a rest, whilst Guardiola is always willing to give a chance to a young starlet within the squad, with Cole Palmer or yound revelation Rico Lewis possibly in line for a place in the starting lineup.

It is a certainty that whoever plays will be at the highest level, notably De Bruyne and Haaland are both expected to start.

Arteta to think of bigger picture

With a gruelling schedule on the horizon and the current state of the league table, Mikel Arteta may begrudgingly see this as a rare opportunity to rest a couple of important players.

The likes of Kiernan Tierney, Fabio Vieira, Tomiyasu and Emile Smith Rowe are a few of several of the squad that could feature in this one.

While Arteta will of course wish to progress from this tie, his comparative lack of strength in depth means that his rotations will not be at the level of Manchester City's.

City appear to be a nice pick to win this game with prices around the 8/11 mark representing some solid value, although it's worth noting that since the international break, Guardiola's side have been a little suspect defensively, having conceded twice against both Manchester Utd and Spurs recently.

That could bring in a bolder selection in the Match Winner/Both Teams To Score market as a viable option that offers heftier odds.