Some on the Arsenal side felt there was a typical edge to Pep Guardiola<\/a>\u2019s words on Sunday, when he mentioned how European elimination has freshened City\u2019s preparations. Such comments are all the more conspicuous<\/a> given how it was a new Guardiola gameplan that won the Carabao Cup final<\/a>, that has only fed into all of this noise around Arsenal.<\/p>\n There has long been a concern that some of Mikel Arteta<\/a>\u2019s players are too conscious of that noise. It adds to the weight of everything, and the sense of a team toiling through mental and physical fatigue.<\/p>\n That sense isn\u2019t everywhere, though. Despite the perceptions, there are Arsenal players who can see history and are determined to drive through<\/a> this. Some, like Riccardo Calafiori and Eberechi Eze<\/a>, are also following their manager in constantly pointing to the positives; that they can this week go to City and \u201cwin the league\u201d.<\/p>\n Such accounts remind of a story from perhaps English football\u2019s most famous title showdown, that has so many other parallels with now.<\/p>\n Back in the week before 26 May 1989, the Arsenal squad were feeling much more down about their chances than the current team. After a 2-1 home defeat to Derby County and a 2-2 draw with Wimbledon, the belief was they\u2019d blown it, as they prepared to travel to perennial champions Liverpool needing to win 2-0.<\/p>\n Then, just before a key team meeting, legendary goalkeeper Bob Wilson cheerily popped by, like Calafiori and Eze now. \u201cCheer up lads,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThis is the week we\u2019re going to win the league.\u201d<\/p>\n While the squad remained morose given Liverpool had just beaten West Ham United 5-1, they started to be roused when manager George Graham came in and literally – yes – pinned something to the dressing-room wall. A tabloid headline featured the words \u201cmen against boys\u201d. The players could feel the \u201cfire\u201d, as Arteta might put it<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Basque can provoke a similar response, because there are plenty of examples. The entire build-up to Sunday has been about Arsenal \u201cbottling it\u201d again, their character, and so many internet memes. It should infuriate Arsenal.<\/p>\n City, by contrast, have barely been mentioned. It\u2019s like we all know what we\u2019re going to get. There\u2019s a serenity there, that the players feel they can surge on to force Arsenal to \u201cstay humble\u201d again<\/a>. Guardiola has reflected this with the way he\u2019s so often talked about giving his team days off. It comes from so much experience. A coach once notorious for his own intensity has successfully taken the temperature down for his team.<\/p>\n By contrast, Arteta\u2019s solution to any issue is to almost go more intense – especially in training. It all means City have the feel of 2023, when they battered Arsenal 4-1 in a similar fixture.<\/p>\n And yet there\u2019s a twist there.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s an immense emotional pressure on Arsenal, the pressure to actually do something is on City. Arteta\u2019s side might have it all to lose, but City actually have to win. It\u2019s just as well they\u2019re built to do that, and on such scoring form. <\/p>\n Guardiola has to ensure three points, or the title will again be out of their hands. That simple reality may create all manner of layers for Sunday, further complicated by the tactical approaches.<\/p>\n The Carabao Cup final will obviously shape them. Guardiola realised then that goalkeeper distribution is so essential to Arsenal, with Viktor Gyokeres apparently unable to hold up long balls. So, City penned Arteta\u2019s side in. Bournemouth willingly took that approach in last week\u2019s 2-1 win <\/a>over Arsenal, that currently looks like it has turned the title race. <\/p>\n Eliminating Sporting at least offered a cleanser<\/a> for Arteta\u2019s squad, but not a clean slate.<\/p>\n A further danger is that it feels like Guardiola\u2019s set-up was possible because of how locked in to one approach Arsenal seem. <\/p>\n The great question for this game, then, is whether Arteta can do something different. Will Arteta replace Gyokeres with Kai Havertz\u2026 or does he go two up front? Does he rest the jaded Martin Zubimendi and put Declan Rice at the base of a midfield with Eze and Martin Odegaard, if the Norwegian is actually fit? Does he go more attacking to test Guardiola\u2019s defence, or is this where Arsenal actually need to do \u201ca Jose Mourinho\u201d and frustrate City like in the famous Steven Gerrard slip game?<\/p>\n There can be a vulnerability to City, after all, and they are a very \u201cgame state\u201d team. It is like their mood is transformed by the first goal. For all the potential parallels with 2023, the much-criticised 0-0 of 2024<\/a> would actually suit Arsenal.<\/p>\n Or, does Guardiola give Arteta another schooling? As with the Carabao Cup final, it is almost pointless to try and predict what the City manager will come up with. This is Guardiola\u2019s genius, what no one else saw.<\/p>\n Either way, this is where you really earn it, where seasons that have been shaped by the 99 per cent like wage bills and ideology are settled by the more human one per cent; ingenuity, will.<\/p>\n![\"Who](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2271017662.jpg\")
Who will win the clash for the Premier League title? (Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Arsenal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/b99e361c827c8640bae7bfedb5f018cfY29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzc1MzExMTUy-2.83983373.jpg\")
Arsenal have been in a poor run of form including losing their last clash with Manchester City (PA Wire)![\"Mikel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2270959831.jpg\")
Mikel Arteta has promised \u2018fire\u2019 from his team but can he get one over his old mentor Pep Guardiola? (Getty)<\/p>\n![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-03-22T191621Z_1453793437_UP1EM3M1HJ8ZH_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-ARS-MCI.jpg\")
Man City got their tactics correct in the Carabao Cup final, shutting down Arsenal’s build up from the back (Reuters)<\/p>\n![\"Bukayo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-03-22T171605Z_523748607_UP1EM3M1BYRPF_RTRMADP_3_SOCCER-ENGLAND-ARS-MCI.jpg\")
Bukayo Saka looks unlikely to feature against Man City which will limit Arsenal’s tactical play (Reuters)<\/p>\n