In the final round of Premier League fixtures before Christmas, arguably the pick of the matches comes at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday as Manchester City host Arsenal.

It is fourth vs. third in the table, with just one point separating the two sides heading into this Christmas cracker of a contest.

Manchester City

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It all started so well for Man City under Pep Guardiola, with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss winning his first 10 matches in charge of the club in all competitions.

Guardiola's warnings that he would need time to adapt to the style of English football at that point seemed to be unnecessary modesty, but now it looks like realism with City having floundered in recent months.

Since their perfect start to the season came to an end at the hands of Celtic in the Champions League, City have won just five of their 16 matches across all competitions and have only strung consecutive wins together once in that time.

However, they do have a chance to make it two victories in the space of four days this weekend having returned to winning ways against Watford on Wednesday, with Pablo Zabaleta and David Silva getting the goals in a 2-0 win.

That came after back-to-back league defeats at the hands of Chelsea and Leicester City respectively, and having also lost to Tottenham Hotspur this season, another defeat to an expected top-four rival could leave them 10 points off the top on Christmas Day.

Indeed, with Chelsea in action on Saturday, City could begin their match with that 10-point gap already in place, but victory over the Gunners would lift them up to second in the table - at least until Liverpool face Merseyside rivals Everton on Monday night.

Conversely, a defeat coupled with a Tottenham Hotspur win at home to Burnley would see them spend Christmas outside the top four for the first time since the 2009-10 season.

Wednesday's win over Watford was their first at home in the Premier League since September - they have actually fared better away from home under Guardiola - and also saw them keep just their second clean sheet in their last 18 matches in all competitions.

Should they manage to keep Arsenal at bay this weekend then it would be back-to-back clean sheets in the league for the first time since March, but only Liverpool have conceded more than City in the top seven, while Arsenal are second only to Jurgen Klopp's side in the goalscoring stakes.

Guardiola has made no secret that he is still learning following his move to England, and the busy festive period is something he has not experienced before, with his side currently in the midst of a run of nine games in the space of little over a month.

With Liverpool also to come on New Year's Eve, it promises to be a crucial period of the season for City and, unless they can return to the sort of form they showed at the start of the season, they could come out of it with a lot of work to do in the second half of the campaign.

Recent form: DWWLLW
Recent form (all competitions): DWLDLW

Arsenal

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For many, this season is shaping up to be Arsenal's best chance of winning the Premier League title since the Invincibles of 2003-04.

Arsene Wenger's side may have finished second last season, but they never really looked like challenging eventual champions Leicester City as their wait for the title extended to 12 years.

Chelsea may be setting the pace at the moment, but the Gunners have already successfully negotiated one of their usual stumbling blocks by passing through November unbeaten despite facing the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain.

Indeed, Arsenal were doing a good job of keeping up with the rampant league leaders until Tuesday night, when their title bid suffered a setback with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Everton, who had won just one of their previous 11 games before coming from behind at Goodison Park.

The defeat left the Gunners six points adrift of Chelsea and saw them drop down to third in a damaging set of midweek fixtures, with every other team in the top eight picking up a victory.

It was, however, their first league defeat since losing to Everton's neighbours Liverpool on the opening day, and Wenger will be hopeful that it proves to be a minor blip rather than the start of what seems to be an annual collapse around the time of the New Year.

Arsenal have not lost back-to-back Premier League games since March, and that record extends back to April 2014 when it comes to consecutive away games in the league, although it is now 11 matches in all competitions since they last kept a clean sheet.

Indeed, Petr Cech is on the verge of going eight Premier League games without a clean sheet for the first time in his career, and Arsenal could once again be forced to rely on their free-scoring attack, which has been ably led by Alexis Sanchez this season.

No team has scored more or conceded fewer goals away from home than Arsenal this term, and the midweek defeat to Everton was their first on the road in any competition since losing to Barcelona in the Champions League in March.

Victory at the home of one of their main rivals would be the perfect way to bounce back from that disappointment and, with matches against West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Swansea City and Watford to come after this weekend, it could be the start of a good run well into the New Year.

Recent form: DDWWWL
Recent form (all competitions): WLWWWL

Team News

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Man City have been hit by the news that Ilkay Gundogan will face an extended period on the sidelines after picking up a knee injury in the midweek win over Watford.

Fernando replaced him at the Etihad on Wednesday and could be included from the start this weekend, with Fernandinho serving the final game of his ban following his red card against Chelsea.

Sergio Aguero is only halfway through his four-match suspension, though, and Guardiola must decide whether to recall Kelechi Iheanacho or stick with Nolito up front in the Argentine's absence.

The likes of Bacary Sagna, Leroy Sane and John Stones are also pushing for a recall, but Fabian Delph and Vincent Kompany remain sidelined.

Kevin De Bruyne has provided a league-high eight assists so far this season but is currently on a 10-game goal drought - his longest run without finding the back of the net in the Premier League.

Sanchez is having no such problems in front of goal, with the Chilean level with Diego Costa as the league's top scorer this season with 12. Indeed, he has already been directly involved in 17 goals this term, equalling his tally from the whole of last season.

That form means that Olivier Giroud and Lucas Perez are once again expected to start on the bench, but Alex Iwobi and Mohamed Elneny will be hopeful of a return to the starting XI.

The match will come too soon for Aaron Ramsey (hamstring), though, while Danny Welbeck, Shkodran Mustafi, Mathieu Debuchy, Per Mertesacker and Santi Cazorla are all sidelined until the New Year.

Man City possible starting lineup:
Bravo; Sagna, Otamendi, Stones, Clichy; Toure, Fernando, Sane, De Bruyne, Silva; Iheanacho

Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Cech; Bellerin, Gabriel, Koscielny, Monreal; Elneny, Xhaka, Walcott, Ozil, Iwobi; Sanchez

Head To Head

Arsenal have enjoyed the better of this fixture in recent years, winning three and losing none of their last six meetings with Manchester City in all competitions.

City's last win over the Gunners was a memorable one, though, as they ran out 6-3 winners in December 2013. The last six Premier League meetings between the two sides have produced 24 goals at an average of four per game.

These two also met in their final match before Christmas last year, with Arsenal winning 2-1 at the Emirates, while the corresponding fixture in May ended 2-2 with Aguero, De Bruyne, Giroud and Sanchez all on the scoresheet.

We say: Man City 2-2 Arsenal

This fixture usually provides goals and, with both sides struggling at the back in recent weeks, we can't see that changing this weekend. Arsenal will want a response to that Everton defeat while City should be buoyed by the win over Watford, so we're going for an entertaining 2-2 draw.

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