Arsenal prepare for vital trip to Manchester City

The Gunners are undefeated in their last five outings, that include vital wins in the UEFA Champions League.

“It’s [the Arsenal game is] not a decisive game as after this we have to play 21 games more”.

How wrong they all were.

Arsenal legend Robert Pires has backed his former side to be crowned Premier League champions this season.

No side has ever been in City’s position at this stage and failed to finish at least fourth.

The Anfield club demonstrated their potential in the 6-1 League Cup defeat of Southampton, and if they can reach that level, they should be good enough to beat the Hornets in Sunday’s early game.

Arsene Wenger admitted that he will be looking for quality additions to his team in January and Isco has appeared to be on the radar of the Emirate Landlord after the player expressed his desire to move away from Santiago Bernabeu following his lack of playing time.

Current table toppers Leicester City are expected to finish sixth behind Tottenham, but six points clear of current champions Chelsea, in seventh.

“City have the bigger squad and when injuries kick in they will have depth”, he added.

“Pablo Zabaleta continues without working – I hope next week he’ll start again”, Pellegrini told reporters.

The final Premier League weekend before Christmas is upon us. This has the ingredients to be a fascinating game with two teams that like to attack, but aren’t always too clever at defending.

Olivier Giroud has been picked out by many as the man in form for Arsenal ahead of this game but stopping Mesut Ozil and cutting off the supply line could be key to our chances of victory.

Clubs who lose their manager often get a temporary boost in performance, and Chelsea will hardly even need to raise their game significantly to overcome Sam Allardyce’s beleaguered outfit.

They face an Arsenal side who have lost against West Ham, Olympiakos, Dinamo Zagreb, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday and West Brom this season and can draw further confidence from the fact that they have only lost one of their last six away games against the Gunners.

This could be a huge moment in Arsenal’s season.

Ranieri and Leicester may be intelligent and competent, but that does not necessarily mean they’ll have the stamina to remain at the head of the table until May.