Arsenal vs Manchester City: No humility, just revenge

We’ve been waiting for this fixture since the moment the final whistle blew at the Etihad last year.

It was a fixture remembered not for any great feats of football but rather for the acrimony so long hidden from view that erupted at last.

None of us can forget Erling Haaland’s now infamous ‘stay humble’ jibe at several of the Arsenal players as he left the pitch, his side having snatched an ill-deserved draw at the death.

His arrogance has festered among the Arsenal fanbase ever since and, at long last, Sunday presents an opportunity at making the Norwegian eat his words.

Not only that, it’s a chance for the Gunners to put to bed the gnawing injustice of that match. Who can forget Michael Oliver (the very same) brandishing a red card for Leandro Trossard after deciding the Belgian had ‘delayed the restart’? It was, as you’d expect, a call we still haven’t seen against any other side and a real point of contention for Arsenal fans. We need to put it right, we need to get the win over City we deserved that day.

But none of us should assume it’s going to be anything but incredibly difficult. Flimsy and inconsistent though they have been this season, City remain capable of beating anyone, anywhere on their day.

It would be silly to assume they wouldn’t go into this one without some fire in their own bellies.

Hopefully, though, we’ll find a way to expose those new frailties in the City armour and put the match out of even their reach.

That’s going to take renewed efforts at the top end of the pitch. Chances are unlikely to be ten-a-penny against the reigning champions so the emphasis must be on efficiency. Passing up two, three or four chances won’t be an option because, with a killer like Haaland up top, you can be certain City won’t.

Having had the luxury of resting some legs in midweek, Arsenal can at least head into the match a little fresher than City, who were forced to field their strongest in midweek against Brugge.

The likes of Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and William Saliba should have a little more gas in the tank than otherwise might have been the case and that’s nothing but good news for us. We’ll need all three at their best.

The only fresh concern we know of at this point is David Raya. The Spaniard missed out entirely in midweek with a muscular injury and it must be said our number two, Neto, didn’t exactly set the world on fire. City are not the sort of opponent you can afford to make mistakes against, even if they’re struggling this season.

If Raya has been recovered in time, so much the better for our chances. His absence did kind of expose how reliant we are on him, however. Utterly reliant.

That aside, I think we’ll be in reasonable shape come Sunday evening. The squad is still without its longer-term absentees but, compared to a few weeks ago, things feel a little better.

The missing piece of the puzzle now is the match-goers among us. They need to want this one every bit as the players will. They need to let our antipathy and animosity spill onto the pitch, they need to be on Haaland and Co from the first whistle. The 12th man absolute can make the difference.

It’s time for City to eat the largest slice of humble pie we can cook up.