Arsenal and Manchester City play this weekend at Wembley Stadium, England in the 2018 League (Caraba) Cup final just three days after their Europa League tie with Ostersunds.
City was dumped out of the FA Cup last night by Wigan, but they’ll have three more days to prepare for the game.
City is already running away with the Premier League and despite slipping up to Liverpool a couple of weeks ago.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang won’t be eligible for the Europa League tie as Dortmund are now in the competition, but the Gaboan will be in line for a place in the final against Man City, should he be selected. With Alexandre Lacazette sidelined following a surprise knee op, it looks likely the smiley African will start the game as we look to try and win the competition for the first time since 1993. The League Cup is a competition Arsene Wenger has never won during his Arsenal reign.
On the other hand, Henrikh Mkhitaryan is the opposite, being eligible to play in the Europa League as his former side Manchester United are still in the Champions League, he is however cup-tied for the League Cup after featuring for United in the earlier rounds and their infamous, unceremonious exit at the hands of Bristol City.
However, their win in Sweden opens up the possibility for Wenger to rest stars such as Mesut Ozil and Hector Bellerin for Wembley.
While Arsenal’s defence has stalled, and maybe even declined at certain times and in certain areas, City’s looks to have improved, significant investment has played a part, but Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones have both looked more secure in Pep Guardiola’s second season in charge.
However, this season City have conceded more than one goal in a game on six occasions – one a 7-2 thrashing of Stoke and one a 2-1 defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk in a dead rubber Champions League clash. They have let in 20 goals in the Premier League this season, a total only bettered by Manchester United (19), and have also kept the third-highest number of clean sheets (12) behind Chelsea (14) and United (15).
In the Carabao Cup, the Gunners have largely played with four at the back, as they did in the two legs of the semi-final against Chelsea, when they only conceded once over 180 minutes.
As impressive as that achievement was, it is not something Arsenal have been able to repeat on a regular basis. Against Tottenham, they were also well organised defensively, for 45 minutes, then the floodgates opened in the second half and the Gunners were fortunate not to lose by more than just one goal. In the Premier League this season they have kept only nine clean sheets and have conceded 36 goals, the same as Brighton and Newcastle and 16 more than Manchester City.
Even Wenger has not been able to hide his frustrations at times. “Defensively, we were very poor and made big mistakes,” he said after a 3-1 defeat to Swansea in late January. “It’s better not to talk about the second or third goals…We were not good enough, we were not disciplined enough.”
Perhaps that it is at Wembley where they have produced some of their best performances in recent seasons. Despite several absences, they were strong at the back when they beat Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup final in May and also when they beat Manchester City in the semi-finals with a three-man defence. Going further back, Aston Villa did not manage a shot on target against the Gunners in the 2015 FA Cup final.
And, since losing the Carabo Cup final to Birmingham in 2011, the Gunners have won nine straight games at Wembley, excluding their recent league defeat to Tottenham. They also have a respectable record against Manchester City in recent years, losing only two of their last 10 meetings in all competitions.
Premier League
Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Man City 27 23 3 1 79 20 59 72
2 Man Utd 27 17 5 5 51 19 32 56
3 Liverpool 27 15 9 3 61 31 30 54
4 Chelsea 27 16 5 6 49 23 26 53
5 Tottenham 27 15 7 5 52 24 28 52
6 Arsenal 27 13 6 8 51 36 15 45
7 Burnley 27 9 9 9 21 24 -3 36
8 Leicester 27 9 8 10 39 40 -1 35
9 Everton 27 9 7 11 32 46 -14 34
10 Bo’mouth 27 8 7 12 31 41 -10 31
11 Watford 27 8 6 13 37 47 -10 30
12 West Ham 27 7 9 11 34 46 -12 30
13 Newcastle 27 7 7 13 25 36 -11 28
14 Brighton 27 6 10 11 22 36 -14 28
15 C/Palace 27 6 9 12 25 42 -17 27
16 Swansea 27 7 6 14 20 37 -17 27
17 Hud’sfield 27 7 6 14 23 47 -24 27
18 S’Ampton 27 5 11 11 28 40 -12 26
19 Stoke City 27 6 7 14 27 53 -26 25
20 West Brom 27 3 11 13 21 40 -19 20
SERIE A
Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Napoli 25 21 3 1 55 15 40 66
2 Juventus 25 21 2 2 62 15 47 65
3 Roma 25 15 5 5 40 19 21 50
4 Lazio 25 15 4 6 61 33 28 49
5 Inter 25 13 9 3 40 21 19 48
6 Sampdoria 25 12 5 8 44 33 11 41
7 Milan 25 12 5 8 35 30 5 41
8 Atalanta 25 10 8 7 37 29 8 38
9 Torino 25 8 12 5 35 30 5 36
10 Udinese 25 10 3 12 36 36 0 33
11 Fiorentina 25 8 8 9 34 32 2 32
12 Genoa 25 8 6 11 21 25 -4 30
13 Bologna 25 9 3 13 31 38 -7 30
14 Cagliari 25 7 4 14 23 36 -13 25
15 Chievo 25 6 7 12 23 42 -19 25
16 Sassuolo 25 6 5 14 15 43 -28 23
17 Crotone 25 5 6 14 21 44 -23 21
18 SPAL 25 3 8 14 23 47 -24 17
19 Hellas 25 4 4 17 22 50 -28 16
20 Benevento 25 3 1 21 18 58 -40 10
NPFL
Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Akwa Utd 8 5 1 2 14 4 10 16
2 Kano Pillars 9 4 4 1 12 6 6 16
3 Plateau Utd 8 5 0 3 12 4 8 15
4 Enyimba 9 3 5 1 6 5 1 14
5 Katsina Utd 9 4 1 4 14 8 6 13
6 Lobi Stars 8 4 1 3 8 6 2 13
7 Heartland 9 3 4 2 8 7 1 13
8 Rangers 8 4 1 3 6 6 0 13
9 Rivers Utd 9 4 1 4 7 8 -1 13
10 Yobe Desert 9 4 1 4 8 11 -3 13
11 MFM FC 8 4 0 4 7 10 -3 12
12 Sunshine 8 3 3 2 5 8 -3 12
13 Wikki 9 4 0 5 6 11 -5 12
14 Abia W. 9 3 2 4 7 6 1 11
15 El-Kanemi 9 3 2 4 6 8 -2 11
16 Nasarawa 9 3 1 5 11 11 0 10
17 IfeanyiUbah 9 3 1 5 9 11 -2 10
18 Go Round 9 3 1 5 6 10 -4 10
19 Kwara Utd 9 3 1 5 7 14 -7 10
20 Tornadoes 9 3 0 6 8 13 -5 9
Ligue I
Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 PSG 26 22 2 2 81 19 62 68
2 Monaco 26 17 5 4 64 26 38 56
3 Marseille 26 16 7 3 56 29 27 55
4 Lyonn 26 14 7 5 56 32 24 49
5 Nantes 26 11 6 9 27 27 0 39
6 Montpellier 26 9 11 6 24 21 3 38
7 Rennes 26 10 5 11 32 35 -3 35
8 Bordeaux 26 10 5 11 32 35 -3 35
9 Nice 26 10 5 11 32 38 -6 35
10 Guingamp 26 9 7 10 26 33 -7 34
11 St-Étienne 26 9 6 11 27 40 -13 33
12 Caen 26 9 5 12 20 30 -10 32
13 Dijon 25 9 4 12 36 52 -16 31
14 Strasbourg 26 8 6 12 32 47 -15 30
15 Troyes 25 8 3 14 24 34 -10 27
16 Toulouse 26 7 6 13 22 33 -11 27
17 Lille 26 7 6 13 25 41 -16 27
18 Amiens 26 7 5 14 22 30 -8 26
19 Angers 26 5 10 11 27 39 -12 25
20 Metz 26 5 3 18 23 47 -24 18
Bundesliga
Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Bayern 23 19 2 2 55 18 37 59
2 Dortmund 23 11 7 5 48 29 19 40
3 Frankfurt 23 11 6 6 32 26 6 39
4 Leverkusen 23 10 8 5 43 30 13 38
5 Leipzig 23 11 5 7 36 31 5 38
6 Schalke 23 10 7 6 36 30 6 37
7 Hannover 23 8 8 7 32 33 -1 32
8 Augsburg 23 8 7 8 32 29 3 31
9 Hoffenheim 23 8 7 8 37 37 0 31
10 M’gladbach 23 9 4 10 30 35 -5 31
11 Hertha 23 7 9 7 30 30 0 30
12 Freiburg 23 6 10 7 24 37 -13 28
13 Stuttgart 23 8 3 12 19 27 -8 27
14 Wolfsburg 23 4 12 7 26 30 -4 24
15 Bremen 23 5 8 10 21 28 -7 23
16 Mainz 23 6 5 12 28 41 -13 23
17 Hamburger 23 4 5 14 18 34 -16 17
18 Köln 23 3 5 15 20 42 -22 14
La Liga
Pos Team P W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 Barcelona 24 19 5 0 62 11 51 62
2 Atlético 24 16 7 1 36 9 27 55
3 Valencia 24 14 4 6 47 28 19 46
4 Madrid 23 13 6 4 55 26 29 45
5 Sevilla 24 12 3 9 31 35 -4 39
6 Villarreal 24 11 5 8 35 29 6 38
7 Eibar 24 10 5 9 32 36 -4 35
8 Girona 24 9 7 8 34 30 4 34
9 Getafe 24 8 9 7 29 21 8 33
10 Real Betis 24 10 3 11 41 50 -9 33
11 Celta Vigo 24 9 5 10 41 37 4 32
12 Sociedad 24 8 5 11 46 45 1 29
13 Leganés 23 8 5 10 20 25 -5 29
14 Athletic 24 6 10 8 24 27 -3 28
15 Alavés 24 9 1 14 22 33 -11 28
16 Espanyol 24 6 9 9 22 32 -10 27
17 Levante 24 3 11 10 21 38 -17 20
18 Las Palmas24 5 3 16 18 52 -34 18
19 Deportivo 24 4 5 15 24 53 -29 17
20 Málaga 24 3 4 17 15 38 -23 13
EPL
Leicester v Stoke
Brighton v Swansea
Bo’mouth v Newcastle
West Brom v Huddersfield
Burnley v Southampton
Liverpool v West Ham
Watford v Everton
C/Palace v Tottenham
Man Utd v Chelsea
LA-LIGA
Celta Vigo v Eibar
Real Madrid v Alavés
Leganés v Las Palmas
Barcelona v Girona
Villarreal v Getafe
Athletic v Málaga
Valencia v Sociedad
Sevilla v Atlético
Levante v Real Betis
BUNDESLIGA
Mainz v Wolfsburg
Stuttgart v Frankfurt
Bayern v Hertha
Hoffenheim v Freiburg
Hannover v M’gladbach
Bremen v Hamburger
Leverkusen v Schalke
Leipzig v Köln
Dortmund v Augsburg
SERIE A
Bologna v Genoa
Inter v Benevento
Crotone v SPAL
Hellas v Torino
Fiorentina v Chievo
Sassuolo v Lazio
Sampdoria v Udinese
Juventus v Atalanta
Roma v Milan
Cagliari v Napoli
LIGUE I
Strasbourg v Montpellier
Toulouse v Monaco
Lille v Angers
Guingamp v Metz
Rennes v Troyes
Nantes v Amiens
Dijon v Caen
Bordeaux v Nice
Lyon v St-Étienne
PSG v Marseille
Arsenal vs Man City Head-Head
Team P W D L
Arsenal 173 87 43 43
Man City 173 43 43 87
