Arsenal vs Manchester City Preview

The 2023/24 Premier League season will kick-off, albeit unofficially this Sunday when Premier League runner-ups Arsenal face Champions Manchester City at Wembley.

City come into this tie looking to begin their new season on a high note, two months after meeting Inter Milan to win the Champions League title.

Pep Guardiola’s side have not had an easy summer, with two players that were crucial in their treble win last season–Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez–already departing this summer.

They have yet to replace Mahrez but have brought Mateo Kovacic from Chelsea, while Josko Gvardiol is expected to sign in the coming days.

Regardless of their transfer business, the City squad remains one of the best in Europe and they will fancy their chances of winning here, having lost just one of their last 26 competitive matches (W20, D5).

Meanwhile, Arsenal will look to avenge their title loss to Man City by landing the first blow of the new season.

The Gunners were the favourites to win the Premier League title with ten games left in the season but a terrible run of three losses from their last nine PL games (W3, D3) gave City the advantage in the race.

They will hope to redeem themselves here and end a torrid run of eight straight losses against Man City in all competitions.

Mikel Arteta’s side can count on their decent record at Wembley for inspiration as the Gunners are unbeaten on their last three trips to the national stadium (W2, D1).

They also have a better record in this competition than City. Guardiola’s side have lost their last two Community Shield appearances while they have a negative win-loss return historically (W6, L8).

Meanwhile, Arsenal have won each of their last four in this competition, including a 3-0 win over City back in 2014. Another success would be the Gunners’ 17th and move them into second place all time, only behind City’s arch-rivals Manchester United (21).