Ilkay Gundogan could miss the rest of the season following knee injury against Watford
Manchester City vs Arsenal
Competition: F.A. Premier League
Date: 4.00pm, Sunday 18th December 2016
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Referee: Martin Atkinson Assistants: G Beswick, A Nunn Fourth Official: R Madley
Odds: City 6/5, Draw 5/2, Arsenal 5/2
Tickets: Available via mcfc.co.uk
TV: Sky Sports
Manchester City
Manager: Pep Guardiola
Squad (from): Bravo, Caballero, Gunn, Adarabioyo, Angelino, Clichy, Kolarov, Maffeo, Otamendi, Sagna, Stones, Zabaleta, De Bruyne, Fernando, Garcia, Navas, Silva, Sane, Sterling, Toure, Iheanacho, Nolito
Injured: Kompany, Gundogan, Delph
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Aguero, Fernandinho
Form guide: WLDLWD
Arsenal
Manager: Arsene Wenger
Squad (from): Ospina, Cech, Gibbs, Gabriel, Koscielny, Holding, Monreal, Bellerin, Jenkinson, Ozil, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Coquelin, Elneny, Iwobi, Giroud, Walcott, Sanchez, Xhaka, Perez
Injured: Mustafi, Ramsey, Debuchy, Cazorla, Akpom, Mertesacker, Welbeck
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Form guide: LWWWLW
Ilkay Gundogan, Fabian Delph and Vincent Kompany have been ruled out of Sunday's clash with title rivals Arsenal, whilst Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero remain suspended following their red cards against Chelsea. Gundogan has injured his knee ligaments and reports in Germany suggest he could miss the rest of the season, although manager Pep Guardiola has a fully fit Yaya Toure at his disposal once again.
“Vincent, Fabian Delph and Ilkay are out,” Guardiola said. “We are sad for Ilkay. We are going to miss him a lot. But it’s what it is – it’s unlucky. Sometimes it happens in football.
“He is sad, we are sad. The action of the opponent was correct. It was an unlucky situation.
“We don’t have Ilkay and Fernandinho. Another one is going to play and they are going to do as well as possible.”
“You know the reason why he [Toure] was out in the first part of the season. Now he is playing like he can be, like I met him at Barcelona.
“There’s no doubt about his quality. We have him, Fernando, we have Aleix, Kevin can play in that position too. Fernandinho is coming back.”
City's last home game against Arsenal ended in a 2-2 draw, with Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne scoring for the Blues. Overall City have won 36 of the 158 games played against Arsenal, with 39 draws and 83 defeats.
Predicted line-up: Bravo, Zabaleta, Stones, Otamendi, Kolarov, Fernando, Toure, Silva, De Bruyne, Sterling, Nolito
Score prediction: City 1 Arsenal 3