MATCHDAY 3 brought Manchester United vs. Liverpool, Matchday 4 the north London derby, but Matchday 5 brings what may currently be described as the Premier League’s most important fixture. Manchester City vs. Arsenal, i.e. reigning champion vs. their closest contender.
It’s early doors but Manchester City sit top of the Premier League table with a perfect four-from-four record whilst Arsenal sit in second place two points back, just as the table looked at the culmination of last season’s top-flight (City 91 pts, Arsenal 89).
With Opta’s supercomputer already giving City an almost 9 in 10 chance (86%) of winning a record extending fifth straight Premier League title and Arsenal just a 1 in 10 chance (10%), this game is already potentially, somewhat of an early season title-decider.
This particular meeting contains numerous subplots: the master vs. his apprentice for the 10th time in the Premier League, Erling Haaland chasing his 100th goal for Man City (who are looking for a 14th consecutive league win) and Arsenal looking to continue their almost perfect away record in 2024.
Let’s start with the latter – the Gunners are unbeaten in all 11 of their away games in the Premier League since losing 2-1 at Fulham on New Year’s Eve, winning 10 times and drawing once. More impressive however is the fact that Mikel Arteta’s men haven’t trailed for a single minute in any of those matches and could become the first team in Premier League history to not fall behind in 12 successive away games.
That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given Arsenal have barely conceded across those away outings in 2024, with their goal breached just three times: once by Nottingham Forest in January when 2-0 up and twice by Tottenham when 3-0 up in April.
This calendar year away from home in the Premier League, Arsenal have kept the most clean sheets (9), conceded the fewest goals (3), faced the fewest shots (108) and shots on target (22) and have the lowest expected goals against tally (7.9).
| PL in 2024 – Away from Home | Arsenal | Rank |
| Games Won | 10 | 1st= |
| Points | 31 | 1st= |
| Goals | 31 | 1st |
| Goals Conceded | 3 | 1st |
| Shots Faced | 108 | 1st |
| Shots on Target Faced | 22 | 1st |
| Expected Goals Against | 7.9 | 1st |
| Clean Sheets | 9 | 1st |
11 games is Arsenal’s third longest unbeaten start to a calendar year on the road in the Premier League behind 13 game runs in 2002 and 2004, the latter encompassing the second half of their invincible season of 2003-04.
| Longest Unbeaten Away Runs in Premier League to Start a Calendar Year | ||||
| Team | Calendar Year | Games | W | D |
| Chelsea | 2008 | 19* | 15 | 4 |
| Manchester United | 2021 | 15 | 8 | 7 |
| Chelsea | 2005 | 14 | 12 | 2 |
| Manchester United | 1999 | 14 | 9 | 5 |
| Arsenal | 2002 | 13 | 10 | 3 |
| Arsenal | 2004 | 13 | 9 | 4 |
| Manchester City | 2022 | 13 | 8 | 5 |
| Arsenal | 2024 | 11 | 10 | 1 |
| Manchester City | 2021 | 11 | 11 | 0 |
| Manchester City | 2024 | 11 | 10 | 1 |
| Manchester United | 2002 | 11 | 8 | 3 |
| *full calendar year unbeaten | ||||
Arsenal’s run includes a goalless draw against Manchester City in March which coincidently is the last time the Citizens dropped points or failed to score in the league, netting 44 goals and picking up a fourth straight Premier League title since then. Poke the bear etc.
In fact, that 0-0 draw represents the only time in their last 54 home league games that Manchester City haven’t scored, averaging over three goals a game since then.
Pep Guardiola’s men are also unbeaten in their last 32 Premier League games at the Etihad Stadium (W26 D6), something only five clubs have bettered in the competition’s history (including their own run of 37 between 2010 and 2012).
| First Game | Last Game | Team | W | D | Unbeaten |
| 20/03/2004 | 05/10/2008 | Chelsea | 62 | 24 | 86 |
| 07/05/2017 | 17/01/2021 | Liverpool | 55 | 13 | 68 |
| 28/12/2010 | 01/12/2012 | Manchester City | 33 | 4 | 37 |
| 26/12/1998 | 02/12/2000 | Manchester United | 30 | 6 | 36 |
| 28/12/1994 | 12/10/1996 | Manchester United | 25 | 10 | 35 |
| 31/12/2022 | Ongoing | Manchester City | 26 | 6 | 32 |
| 07/05/2003 | 23/01/2005 | Arsenal | 23 | 9 | 32 |
| 22/12/2007 | 19/08/2009 | Liverpool | 22 | 9 | 31 |
Just like Dannii Minogue in the early 90s and Chris Hemsworth in the early noughties, Manchester City and Arsenal have become the stars of home and away, but one side’s impressive run is at risk of coming to an end this weekend. Of course, both could continue, which seems more likely to happen now than if this game was upcoming two seasons ago.
Prior to last season, when Arsenal were the only team to take as many as four points from Manchester City in the Premier League (W1 D1), Mikel Arteta had lost each of his first seven league meetings with former boss and colleague Pep Guardiola by an aggregate score of 19-3.
Arsenal also won last season’s Community Shield at the expense of Manchester City (on penalties), so things appear to have taken a turn in this head-to-head matchup.
Arteta’s men restricted Man City to just one shot on target in each of their league meetings last season, something that has only happened in three of Pep Guardiola’s other 306 league games during his reign as City boss (vs. Stoke, Southampton and Manchester United).
| Premier League H2H | Pep Guardiola Team | Mikel Arteta Team | For | Against | Venue | Result | Season |
| 17/06/2020 | Manchester City | Arsenal | 3 | 0 | H | W | 2019/20 |
| 17/10/2020 | Manchester City | Arsenal | 1 | 0 | H | W | 2020/21 |
| 21/02/2021 | Manchester City | Arsenal | 1 | 0 | A | W | 2020/21 |
| 28/08/2021 | Manchester City | Arsenal | 5 | 0 | H | W | 2021/22 |
| 01/01/2022 | Manchester City | Arsenal | 2 | 1 | A | W | 2021/22 |
| 15/02/2023 | Manchester City | Arsenal | 3 | 1 | A | W | 2022/23 |
| 26/04/2023 | Manchester City | Arsenal | 4 | 1 | H | W | 2022/23 |
| 08/10/2023 | Manchester City | Arsenal | 0 | 1 | A | L | 2023/24 |
| 31/03/2024 | Manchester City | Arsenal | 0 | 0 | H | D | 2023/24 |
Arsenal could keep a clean sheet for the third straight Premier League game against Man City and good things do come in threes, but one man who doesn’t need to be told that is Erling Haaland, who has hit two trebles in the Premier League already this season and has nine goals in total.
The most dangerous striker in world football at the moment is also just one goal away from scoring his 100th in all competitions for Manchester City, on what would be just his 105th appearance for the club.
Should he hit a century this weekend against the Gunners, Haaland will have hit 100 goals in the same number of games it took Cristiano Ronaldo to do so at Real Madrid (also 105 games), and significantly faster than it took the likes of Kylian Mbappé at PSG (137 games), Harry Kane at Tottenham (169 games) and Lionel Messi at Barcelona (188 games).
| Games to 100 Goals – Selected Players | Team | Games |
| Erling Haaland | Manchester City | 105* |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Real Madrid | 105 |
| Zlatan Ibrahimovic | PSG | 124 |
| Robert Lewandowski | Bayern Munich | 136 |
| Kylian Mbappé | PSG | 137 |
| Sergio Agüero | Manchester City | 158 |
| Harry Kane | Tottenham | 169 |
| Thierry Henry | Arsenal | 181 |
| Lionel Messi | Barcelona | 188 |
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