Preview: Manchester City vs Arsenal - prediction, team news, lineups

The Premier League title will not be won or indeed lost at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, but the destiny of the crown will become a little clearer after Manchester City and Arsenal's blockbuster battle.

By the close of play on April 19, the Gunners could have established a surely unassailable nine-point lead over the Sky Blues in the Premier League table, or first place will be firmly in the hands of Pep Guardiola's juggernaut.

Match preview

Arsenal quadruple this and Arsenal quadruple that, but springtime specialists Man City have an unforeseen domestic treble firmly in their sights and are evidently enjoying playing catch-up to Mikel Arteta's jaded Gunners side.

Already proudly showing off the EFL Cup and just 180 minutes away from reclaiming their FA Cup crown, the Citizens have capitalised on Arsenal's recent blips to move to within six points of the Premier League leaders, still boasting that precious game in hand too.

Man City's first-half display against Chelsea was nothing to write home about, but penalty-box predator Nico O'Reilly sparked a second-half surge with his sixth goal in all competitions since the start of February; no Man City player boasts more strikes than the Englishman over that period.

The hosts' comprehensive 3-0 victory at Stamford Bridge marked their third straight triumph without conceding in all competitions - during which time they have plundered nine goals of their own - and the April-specific statistics make for highly pleasant reading too.

Indeed, Man City boast a better win rate (79.5%) and points-per-game ratio (2.51) in April than any other month in which they have played at least 10 Premier League games - conversely, the less said about Arsenal's Easter exploits, the better.

While Guardiola's men turn up the heat in the fourth month of the year, Arteta's Arsenal boast a paltry 42.3% win rate and 1.54 points per game in the Premier League in April since the Spaniard took over - unsurprisingly their worst month from a statistical point of view.

The Gunners' springtime hoodoo was well and truly alive against Bournemouth last Saturday lunchtime, when Eli Junior Kroupi and Alex Scott struck either side of a Viktor Gyokeres spot kick to propel the Cherries to a deserved 2-1 triumph, triggering a smattering of boos from the home crowd at the full-time whistle.

Progression to the Champions League semi-finals for the second time in two seasons - a club first - restored a marginal sense of pride in midweek, but a 0-0 borefest against Sporting Lisbon in the second leg of their quarter-final did little to reignite red and white confidence.

Just one win from five in all tournaments paints a grim picture for an evidently exhausted Arsenal side, who have committed an unsightly 15 errors leading to a shot in Premier League games since January 1 - between August and December, they only gave away eight.

However, it is not all doom and gloom for the league leaders, who have strung together a praiseworthy five-match unbeaten sequence against Man City in the top flight, after suffering a harrowing 12 straight defeats.

The Gunners faithful should not have been mad at an uninspiring goalless stalemate in midweek, and in a game that Man City must win and Arsenal must not lose, visiting fans would happily sit through something similar on Sunday.

Manchester City Premier League form:

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Arsenal Premier League form:

Arsenal form (all competitions):

Team News

O'Reilly was prematurely taken out of the Stamford Bridge spotlight last weekend due to a hamstring scare, but Guardiola affirmed that the versatile defender is "fine" for the top-of-the-table showdown this weekend.

That is more than can be said for fellow defenders Ruben Dias (hamstring), Josko Gvardiol (leg) and John Stones (calf), but the Sky Blues should come into gameweek 33 with an identical squad from their Chelsea triumph.

Unless Guardiola plays it safe with O'Reilly and promotes Rayan Ait-Nouri to the lineup, an unchanged XI will almost certainly take to the field, as Rayan Cherki - averaging an assist every 138 minutes in the Premier League this season - pulls the creative strings again.

To the surprise of fans and indeed journalists, Arteta gave a firm yes-or-no update on one of Arsenal's injured players, but it was not the yes-or-no update Gooners wanted to hear.

The Spaniard confirmed that Bukayo Saka (unspecified) would not make the journey to the Etihad, although Noni Madueke is only a minor doubt with the knee issue he sustained in midweek, so a dream start for 16-year-old Max Dowman may not come to fruition.

Jurrien Timber, Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori are all on the visitors' touch-and-go list too, but Mikel Merino (foot) is several weeks away from a return.

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O'Reilly; Rodri, Silva; Semenyo, Cherki, Doku; Haaland

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Eze, Trossard; Gyokeres

We say: Manchester City 2-0 Arsenal

Not only are Arsenal committing an alarming number of errors at the back, but the lack of an Odegaard or a Saka has significantly stifled the Gunners' creativity, to the point where their title dreams could crumble completely.

In contrast, all of Cherki, Antoine Semenyo and Jeremy Doku can run rings round the Arsenal defence - as they did in the EFL Cup final - and a well-rested Man City side have our backing to take control of the tantalising title race.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.