2023-04-26 03:01:00
To rent balconies, get away before work, suspend the nap or, in the case of the bravest, even stop looking at the dollar price… Several qualifications fit the game they will play This Wednesday afternoon Manchester City and Arsenal, almost a one-on-one final on the closing of the Premier Leaguefor many the most entertaining league in the world.
From 4:00 p.m. (Argentine time) and with ESPN television, the first and second in the English league will be measured. The leader, visitor in this case, is Arsenal, who comes into the duel with 75 points in 32 games played. His pursuer and local on duty is City, with 70 units but two fewer dates. A win for the Londoners will give them air in the race for the title that has been denied them since 2004, but a success for Pep Guardiola’s men will practically condemn the illusion of the Gunnerswhile a draw is not viewed with bad eyes by the City side either.
Go to City and cry (except with Dibu)
Of course, a victory may sound like a utopia for those led by Mikel Arteta: City have beaten them in 14 of their last 15 meetings. The only exception is Arsenal’s 2-0 success in the 2020 FA Cup semi-finals, one of the few games that Dibu Martínez played during the decade he was with this team. That tournament was won by Arsenal and catapulted the man from Mar del Plata to international fame. After a while, and also with Dibu in goal, he obtained the Community Shield and the one was sold almost immediately to Aston Villa. Those two titles were the last for Arsenal and the only ones after the departure of the Frenchman Arsene Wenger, DT of the team between 1996 and 2018.
If it is by Premier, the history dictates a brutal follow-up: City won no less than the last 11 games against Arsenal (29-7 on goals). The last triumph of those in red dates from the end of 2015, when Wenger was still DT and on the other side commanded the former San Lorenzo and River Manuel Pellegrini, the Engineer. The Belgian Kevin de Bruyne was already playing at City, the only survivor of the cascade of reinforcements that Guardiola’s team adds year after year. That game was so far away that Nicolás Otamendi and Sergio Agüero played, while on the celestial bench was Martín Demichelis, today DT of River.
The party formations
An Arsenal about to explode
Faced with the increasingly real possibility of winning the Premier League again after almost 20 years, Arsenal has been reeling hard and even in recent times. Arteta’s team led the table for most of the tournament but tied their last three games and exhibited the nerves that eat away at them. In his last appearance he barely scratched the point against the bottom of the table, Southampton from exRacing Carlos Alcaraz -played a great match-, with two goals in the last minutes to reach 3-3.
On the contrary, City have six successes in a row in the Premier League and that is when they have their heads pretty deep in the ever-so-elusive Champions Leaguewhere he will play the semifinals with Real Madrid on May 9 and 17.
The last one, 19 years ago
Arsenal have not won the Premier since the 2003/04 season, when they were led by Arsene Wenger. That team that came out undefeated champion and a few years later would be runner-up in Europe had legendary players, like striker Thierry Henry, who at just 25 years old led the league with 30 goals in 37 games. There were also his compatriots Robert Pires and Patrick Vieira, the elegant Dutchman Dennis BergkampSwedish Fredrik Ljungbergthe German goalkeeper Jens Lehman -three unpleasant figures for the World Cup memories of Argentina- and even the Nigerian Nwankwo Kanu, although very substitute at that time.
A postcard of how times have changed, in the 2003/04 season City finished 16th. It was not until 2007, with the arrival of foreign capital, that the sky blue team became the protagonist in England. By case, between 1992 and 2006 City could not beat Arsenal on any occasion (16 losses and 3 draws).
Guardiola and Arteta, old acquaintances but not so similar
Both went midfielders trained in Barcelona but their careers turned out to be quite disparate. Guardiola was a symbol of the Catalan club and stood out in the selection of his country, while Arteta did not last long at Barça and never played for the Major of Spain. ButBoth crossed paths in mid-2016, when Arteta’s retirement (at Arsenal) and the coach’s arrival at City coincided. Arteta joined him as a technical assistant and Pep himself described him as “key” for his adaptation to the Premier. Three and a half years later, Mikel cut ties with his mentor and began managing Arsenal.
The cataloged duel of “Disciple vs. Master” is currently very favorable for Guardiola (52 years old), who beat his pupil Arteta (41) 7 out of 8 times.. The exception, the aforementioned success of Arsenal for the FA Cup with Dibu Martínez.
Between bets and recycled
Although she does not even look at the Cinderella sign, Arsenal started the season whistling softly and with a smaller budget than competitors such as City, Liverpool, Chelsea or United. In this sense, the London club He knew how to “recycle” some discarded by his main rivals, such as the Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus and the Ukrainian defender Olek Zinchenko, both bought al City. He also stayed with the Italian Jorginho, discarded by Chelsea once when they signed Enzo Fernández.
This Arsenal lacks a stellar last name such as Haaland or de Bruyne. While the Norwegian android leads Manchester with 32 goals and is recently followed by Phil Foden with 9 and Julián Álvarez with 7; Arsenal distributes its attack in a much more even way: the Brazilian Gabriel Martinelli has 15 celebrations, the English winger Bukayo Saka has 13, the Norwegian midfielder and captain Martin Odegaard has 12, and Gabriel Jesus has 9.
Even on the opposite side, things are very different: while at City the consecrated Ederson saves (28 goals against), Arsenal’s fence is protected by young Aaron Ramsdale (34 goals against)quite a bet by Arteta.
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