TipResumen

ARSENAL

The Arsene Wenger era at Arsenal came to an end at the conclusion of the 2017/18 season but it will really be felt by the fans when Unai Emery takes charge of a League game for the first time as Arsenal manager on Sunday. Emery arrives with a decent reputation following his spells with Sevilla and Paris Saint-Germain and the signings he has made seems to have fixed some problems that Wenger refused to acknowledge. Finishing 6th in the Premier League was the lowest position Arsenal had occupied under Wenger and that means another season without the Champions League having also been beaten in the Europa League Semi Final against Atletico Madrid. The real problems for The Gunners came away from home which prevented them from finishing higher up the League table, and that is highlighted by the fact that only Manchester City won more home games than Arsenal last season (16 to 15). Bernd Leno has been signed to replace Petr Cech in goal, while Sokratis Papastathopoulos has been brought in to give Arsenal a presence at centre half. The best signing may be Lucas Torreira to protect the defence after a solid showing for Uruguay at the World Cup and it does feel like Arsenal are an improved team all around this time around. Squad depth could be an issue for Arsenal who finished last season with just 2 wins from their final 6 games in all competitions. The Gunners won 7 of their last 8 home games in all competitions and were unbeaten through that run although they still came up short in the Premier League and Europa League. Nacho Monreal and Aaron Ramsey are doubts for this fixture, while Sead Kolasinac and Laurent Koscielny have been ruled out.



MANCHESTER CITY

There was the hope that Manchester City would make a couple of additions to the squad that won the Premier League very easily last season, but they will go into the season with Riyad Mahrez the only new signing of note. The win over Chelsea in the Community Shield in another dominant performance will encourage the fans that the standards won't be allowed to slip this time around as a new season begins. That won't be a massive surprise with Pep Guardiola showing he is a serial winner as a manager by adding the League Cup and Premier League to a long list of successes he has had in Germany and Spain. Winning the League by 19 points makes Manchester City a big favourite to become the first club to retain the title in a decade, especially if they can be as dominant away from home as they were when compiling a 16-2-1 record in the 2017/18 season. Manchester City lost 3 games in a row in all competitions in April as they just slipped up at a critical time of the season, but they have recovered to go 7 games unbeaten since then and they have won 6 of those games. They will go into the opening fixture of the new season knowing they have won their last 6 Premier League away games going back to early February. Raheem Sterling, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne are all back in training for Manchester City after their World Cup exploits, but all are doubts for the opening weekend fixture. Aymeric Laporte suffered a knock against Chelsea last weekend and is doubtful, but Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi are both available.



HEAD TO HEAD

Manchester City did the Premier League double over Arsenal last season and also beat them in the League Cup Final while scoring three times in each victory. Arsenal have only won 1 of their last 6 home games against Manchester City, although 3 of those games have ended in draws.



PREDICTION

Unai Emery is going to be welcomed as Arsenal manager for the first time in the Premier League this weekend and he might be wondering who he has offended to be given such a difficult start to the new era at the Emirates Stadium. Facing Champions Manchester City and then heading to Stamford Bridge the following week is a tough opening to the season for any club, but Arsenal have to try and embrace the challenge. In all honesty they may not be able to play Manchester City or Chelsea at a better time with both clubs bringing back key performers who played in the latter stages of the World Cup and Chelsea also having a new manager and new ideas to implement. Even then it will be a tough test for Arsenal and Emery who has made some decent signings for his new club as they bid to move on from the Arsene Wenger era. Arsenal look like they could be closer to the top four this season having finished 12 points behind 4th placed Liverpool in May, although the challenge will be improving away from home. At the Emirates Stadium Arsenal won 15 of 19 League games last season and they managed 14 wins from 19 the season before. However both losses here last season came against the top two teams and the Arsenal players won't have forgotten the way they were beaten by Manchester City in all 3 games against them in the 2017/18 season. Arsenal conceded three times in all of those games and were well beaten in the League Cup Final while they were 0-3 down after 33 minutes in the League game here. At least this Manchester City team could be without the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Raheem Sterling, but even then they showed how good they could be in their dominant Community Shield win over Chelsea last weekend. Riyad Mahrez has come in to give Pep Guardiola more options while Benjamin Mendy's return from injury means the left back position has been improved from last season. This is definitely going to be a tough place to play this season for visiting teams with the tactically astute Unai Emery unlikely to leave Arsenal as open as Arsene Wenger may have done, but there is still a real gap in quality between these clubs. I do think Arsenal will be improved from last season and they have an attacking threat that cannot be ignored, but Manchester City may just have a little too much for them. While The Gunners have signed some defensive reinforcements, I am not sure it is enough to keep out a very good Manchester City team with creativity running through the side and I am willing to back the Champions at odds against to win here. Some of the absentees are a blow for Manchester City, but they may still dominate possession and that can lead to the Champions earning the three points in a tough live game to be played on Sunday afternoon.