The Gunners take on the champions Manchester City

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Arsenal vs Manchester City
Sunday: 18:00 CET (+3) - 16:00 local time, Emirates Stadium, London

The Gunners will take on last season's champions Manchester City to begin their Premier League season. The new Arsenal head coach Unai Emery is confident that his side can pull an upset to kickoff the season. Man City will be aiming to retain their title, and tie with Chelsea for the amount of Premier League titles. Chelsea has won six titles while Man City had won five titles. 

Pep Guardiola will face Unai Emery this Sunday
Image Source: Liga Olahraga

In goal, the Gunners have former Bayer Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno who is expected to be an up and coming keeper in the Premier League. As Arsenal keepers Petr Cech and David Ospina struggled last season in the BPL, it will be interesting to see if Leno can help the Gunners improve at the back. Another player to watch is Uruguay international Lucas Torreira as Arsenal's biggest problem last season was the defence. Lucas Torreira is a defensive midfielder and plays a similar style of football to N'Golo Kante. Torriera was a vital player for Uruguay in the World Cup as teams like Portugal and Russia struggled to create attacking opportunities. And up front is striker duo Pierre-Emerick Aubaeyang and Alexandre Lacazette. Last season, Lacazette scored 14 goals, Aubameyang with ten goals in 13 matches. As Unai Emery has played both strikers together in pre-season, Arsenal fans are expecting a lot of goals.
       
Aubameyang and Lacazette celebrate as Arsenal beat Burnley in their last home match
Image Source: Metro UK


Although Man City have been known for spending big amounts of cash in transfer windows, their only major signing this season is Algerian international Riyad Mahrez. Mahrez plays on the wing and will be interesting to see if he can earn his place in Man City's competitive squad. In the middle, Man City have Kevin De Bruyne who had a great World Cup and helped Belgium reach the semi finals. De Bruyne also played a major role in helping Man City win last year's Premier League title. The Sky Blues have quite a few top quality strikers as head coach Pep Guardiola has a top task on who to pick for his starting eleven. Up front is Gabriel Jesus who scored 13 goals in 29 appearances last season, however Jesus did not score in the World Cup for Brazil. Beside Jesus is Sergio Aguero who scored 21 goals in only 25 appearances for the Sky Blues.

Riyad Mahrez dribbles in a preseason match against Dortmund
Image Source: ESPN 

This match in my opinion could be one of the best fixtures in the Premier League this weekend as both sides are looking to kickoff the season with a win. 

Sources:
  1. Transfermarkt
  2. http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/engchamp.html 
  3. https://www.mancity.com/news/first-team/first-team-news/2018/july/man-city-sign-riyad-mahrez-leicester 

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