The 2 teams who have conceded the least shots on target this season meet. Does that mean this will possibly be a dour 0-0 draw?
Saying that, City does seem to have conceded a whole lot of goals from just 11 shots on target conceded and this does not bode well for Roberto Mancini. Kompany this season for me has looked very shaky at times and not at all like the reassuring presence that we are all so familiar with. I attribute this to the 3-5-2 formation at times Mancini has used at times, with Kompany seemingly confused whether to chase to the flanks when the opponent has gone past the two centre backs beside him. Even the arrival of Nastasic seems unlikely to solve this problem and City might want to revert to the 4-4-1-1 formation that served them so well last season. I would like to see Rodwell play in the defensive midfield role instead of Barry and Garcia too. He provides a dimension of aggression in his play which both Garcia and Barry lack but need. Up front, the ideal combination for me will be Balotelli and Aguero, with Balotelli providing the spectacular and unpredictable while Aguero does the guessable but unstoppable. If Mancini sticks with his favoured 3-5-2, Zabaleta will be the best player to play on the right flank to provide the reliability to neutralise the in-form Podolski. On the other side, a risky move that might pay dividends will be to ply Silva in the left wingback role. Even though the defence might be compromised, the attack will gain when Silva constantly cuts in and overloads Mertesacker. An interesting point will also be to look at the performance of Joe Hart and see whether his confidence is in any way affected by the quick shotdown of his remarks by Mancini.
Arsenal on the other hand, has conceded way fewer goals and their defence seems to have solidified from last season. However, I'm still not particularly convinced with Gibbs and this might be an area opponents can look to exploit as he seems to be lazy on the cover sometimes. Jenkinson on the other flank has been outstanding defensively but he will need to improve his crossing to bring him up to the standard of an Arsenal player. At times he seems unsure when on the ball but he is not unwilling to hoof the ball upfield which loses possesion but at least doesn;t allow opponents to get the ball in a dangerous position. Up front, the performances of Giroud has been very disappointing. Brought in as a target man, he has mainly fulfilled his duties of winning aerial duels, but he has shown a complete lack of ability to guide the ball towards any teammates or the goal. The even more frustrating aspect of his game is his ability to miss even the most basic of chances(my arsenal supporting brother can never get over this), sometimes even failing to make any contact with the ball. I actually like the idea of a target man with great aerial ability in Arsenal's team, seeing how much they rely on flank play meaning that crosses can be a very good attacking route, especially in this game with City's narrow defence. Luckily for them, Gervinho has started adding scoring to his blistering pace and ability to get past defenders and this will be very vital as last season he always managed to get past opponents to get a good chance only to dawdle too long or pass the ball back towards a host of defenders(really really a lot of times this have happened). I will like to see Walcott start in the center forward position till Giroud hits form and in this game he will test the ability of City's defenders running back towards goal with Arteta capable to hit a sweet long ball for Walcott to dash into. Giroud will be a good plan B if Arsenal needs to fight back if City leads and Mancini reverts back to his old ways of defending deep to see out the game.
Predictions:
This is an extremely hard game to call. I expect this to be a tight game. Mancini's formation and tactics will be vital to the outcome of the match and if he gets all his decisions right, can help City edge the game. That, seems unlikely and I expect a draw for the game and bettor's might want to take on a bet on the game ending with 1 or 2 goals.
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