Morning all.
Is Gabriel Martinelli interested in moving to Galatasaray? No, absolutely not he’s reported to tell Arsenal. Could Jarell Quansah be on his way to Arsenal Football Club? No say Bayer Leverkusen as he’s not for sale.
Will our Spanish and English players be left out of Sundays squad to face Man City? No said Mikel Arteta.
They will be available, they trained with us today, they will train tomorrow and if they are in the condition that we expect them to be, they will be involved.
As much as I’m looking forward to seeing all our players back in the team, I was kind of hoping that day wouldn’t be as soon as today but I suppose they need minutes, just not loads. Maybe like Martin Odegaard, they will get around 30 minutes although it’s a lot easier to do that when substitute numbers are unlimited but today, it’ll be back to five which means six players will have to play the full match. Thankfully, that’s Arteta’s problem and not mine.
So, we face a Man City team under new management. Actually, we’ll be facing a number of clubs this season which have changed managed. Liverpool, Totts, Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Fulham and Newcastle Utd. Even newly promoted Ipswich have a different manager to the one which secured Premier League football.
Like Mikel Arteta, Enzo Maresca worked alongside Pep Guardiola so his approach to the game might be a tad similar. However, he’s worked alongside other managers as well as managing his own teams at Parma, Leicester City and Chelsea. Whilst at his last club, Mikel Arteta said that the Italian had his players playing the best attacking football in the league by a country mile. Or something along those lines.
City have seen a few players already depart this season – John Stones, Bernardo Silva, James Trafford, Nathan Ake, Madeline Akanji and Tijjani Reijnders have gone and speculation is rife that Rodri will be at Barcelona by the time the transfer window closes. Elliot Anderson has joined them from Nottingham Forest along with younger players Jeremy Monga, Mathys Detourbet and Pierce Charles.
Arsenal haven’t been that busy this summer either with just Christos Tzolis and Bruno Guimaraes the only outfield players to arrive so far. In reality though, they are replacements for Leandro Trossard and Christian Norgaard, albeit much better in the case of Bruno.
Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke for the first time this season:
It will be fascinating to see what changes in Manchester City’s approach now Maresca is in charge. One of the Italian’s tactical priorities is to release his wingers for 1v1 opportunities, by morphing into a 3-2-2-3 shape in possession, playing through the middle before releasing the ball sharply to the flanks. It will help that Jeremy Doku and Antoine Semenyo are two of the best dribblers in the business.
City will remain a possession-heavy team. Anderson made more successful passes than any other Premier League midfielder in 2025/26, just ahead of the departing Bernardo Silva, while it’ll also be interesting to see their inverted full-backs, and how they attempt to press high in a 4-2-4, tempting opponents to clip the ball over the first line into midfield.
Omar Marmoush has had a strong summer – along with Semenyo – while Rayan Cherki’s 12 assists last term almost mirrored Bruno Fernandes’ output (0.60 assists v 0.62 assists per 90 minutes) so he is somebody to keep close tabs on, every time the Frenchman gets onto the ball. Looking at them in friendly action, the area we might exploit best is playing through the thirds. City will commit players to their press but if they are not in sync, we can find holes that might pick them apart.
Maresca wants to win this because a trophy is on offer and I’d imagine Mikel Arteta feels the same. As will both sets of players I’m sure, fans too.
Any match against Man City is one to win.
Anyway, enjoy the game..
Morning Stuart, same team for me but Hincapie instead of Calafiori and MLS for Rice.
Good morning Rico and all. I’ll be at the Taunton Sports bar for this one.
I’m picking: Raya, White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori, Rice, Bruno, MO8, Dowman, Gyo and Christos to start. Zubi, Bukuyu, Piero, Eze, Kepa and Marli or Noni on the bench.