How on Earth Will Manchester City's Defence Stop the Rampant Alexis Sanchez?
The Premier League's headline offering this weekend is undoubtedly the tussle between Manchester City and Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.
It's a fixture that City have struggled with lately—they're winless in five league matches against the Gunners—but, interestingly, it's Pep Guardiola who holds the obvious edge over Arsene Wenger when it comes to the personal duel; he has dispensed with him in three separate Champions League knockout stages and has never lost at home to the Frenchman. It levels the battle a little and creates an unpredictable feel around this game.
It's third vs. fourth—two Premier League title challengers going head-to-head. Where Man City and Arsenal walk side by side, goals always flow.
Man City Team News
The Telegraph's James Ducker reported Ilkay Gundogan is afraid his knee injury will end his season. If this proves to be the case, it's a big, big blow to Manchester City's campaign and to the team's overall adaptation to Pep's style.
Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero are suspended due to their red cards against Chelsea, and Vincent Kompany is out. But otherwise, it's a reasonably clean bill for Guardiola to choose from. Given Gundogan and Fernandinho can't play, we might even see a rare Fabian Delph appearance.
In Aguero's absence, Pep has given a start each to Kelechi Iheanacho and Nolito up front; the former disappointed against Leicester City, while the latter was OK against Watford. Neither will scare Laurent Koscielny in current form, but both are capable of winning a game single-handedly.
Arsenal Team News
Wenger's pre-match press conference confirmed that the squad for this match will be more or less the same as the one that travelled to Everton. The club's official website did reveal Aaron Ramsey is getting closer and that Danny Welbeck is a week away from full training, though.
The same squad means no Shkodran Mustafi, who has a hamstring injury, and Gabriel Paulista will step in. The Brazilian played remarkably well at right-back when covering for Hector Bellerin last month, but he has been a little more up and down in the middle.
Wenger has some difficult decisions to make in attack ahead of this match, as some poor performances against the Toffees may give pause for thought. Theo Walcott, who has been stellar this season, fell short of expectations against Everton, as did Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Pressure Point 1: Alexis Sanchez vs. Pep's Defence
After Manchester City's win over Watford, Pablo Zabaleta spoke in praise of his defence to the media, per ESPN FC:
"We have been talking the last few days that we needed to improve defensively. We kept a clean sheet [against Watford]. We were solid at the back and that is a big difference. We were strong in the air and conceded few chances. That is what you need to win the games."
The big criticism of Guardiola this season is that his defence has been porous. City quite regularly have to score twice or more to win games as they nearly always concede one; the clean sheet earned against Watford was only their third in the league this season (the others came against AFC Bournemouth and West Bromwich Albion).
Even this most recent clean sheet seemed a little fortuitous, as Odion Ighalo blazed an incredible chance high and wide from close range following a good Nordin Amrabat cross. And while that sequence showed their vulnerabilities when it comes to marking and tracking attackers in the box, the Leicester debacle proved how susceptible to direct counter-attacks they are.
Amazingly, despite playing against the rapid Jamie Vardy, City's centre-backs chose (or were encouraged) to push well into Leicester's half when City were on the ball, at times standing five to 10 yards ahead of the halfway line and leaving Vardy more than half the pitch to use on the counter.
That's the footballing equivalent of John Stones adorning a high-viz jacket, grabbing some paddles and waving his international colleague on to the runway over and over again.
Whether high up or deep, City's defence is incoherent and vulnerable. They face Alexis Sanchez on Sunday, a player who can nip in behind the same way Vardy did and stretch City on the counter or utilise excellent movement to flummox defenders in the box—just like he did against Lamine Kone at the Stadium of Light. The Chilean will feel very good about adding to his season's tally of 12 on Sunday.
Pressure Point 2: The Importance of Raheem Sterling
When the final whistle blew at the King Power Stadium last weekend, it signalled a third straight winless game for Man City. The sequence started with the loss to Chelsea, elapsed into the draw with Celtic and culminated in the Midlands.
It's notable that Raheem Sterling didn't start any of those games. He did start the win over Burnley, then missed those three due to injury. Fit again for the Watford game, he played well and contributed heavily to snapping that winless streak.
Those hoping Pep would be the best thing to ever happen to one of England's most precocious talents have been rendered satisfied by this half-season; it's arguable Sterling has been City's best and most consistent performer through four months.
His dynamic style, his ability to widen the pitch, the speed with which he ducks between the lines and his impressive understanding of how Pep wants him to create chances have all been big factors in the Citizens' attack.
Against Watford, Sterling was continually fed by Kevin De Bruyne and Co. and allowed to run at the opponent. The Hornets' negligence in leaving space between the midfield and defensive lines allowed him to ghost infield and head toward goal, and he came close to netting a very special strike. If he's given the space, he'll hit it.
| Francis Coquelin | 3.3 | 2.8 |
| Granit Xhaka | 2.9 | 2.1 |
Arsenal seem likely to roll with a Granit Xhaka-Francis Coquelin holding pair again, and Sterling's movement—in addition to De Bruyne and David Silva's clever use of space—represents one of the sternest tests in the Premier League.
But Coquelin's a shutdown midfielder at his best, and Xhaka—although noted by the wider world mostly for red cards and penalty concessions—is actually performing very well defensively and does a lot of work that goes unfairly unnoticed.
The tactic for Wenger must be to funnel play out wide and force crosses that, on paper, should be dealt with pretty easily by Koscielny and Co. Xhaka and Coquelin must lock the area just in front of the defence down and prevent the centre of the pitch becoming a playground for City's creative stars.
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