The English Premier League schedule kicks into high gear in December and with the Champions League finished up, Manchester City will host Arsenal at Etihad Stadium for the early match on Saturday and it will be on at 7:45 ET in the US and is a big game for both sides as each are coming off of draws and the Gunners would like to get a positive result this weekend.
Manager Arsene Wenger said that the club is ready to bounce back and the match has plenty riding on it, as Manchester City would like to move up the table from where they are now in fourth place behind the Gunners, Liverpool and Chelsea. Arsenal is coming off of a draw against Everton after getting one goal from Mesut Özil, while Manchester City had the same result against Southampton on Saturday after getting one goal from Sergio Agüero and now the two teams will battle with the EPL standings on the line. Both teams have made it through to the next round in the Champions League as well and they made it into the final last 16 knockout round as runners up in their respective groups. Arsenal still has the top spot in the Premier League table and they will stay there, but heading into the intense holiday schedule, they would like to pad that lead even more.
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The lineups will be key for both teams heading into the matchup and with the Man city offense looking better over the past few weeks, Arsenal will try and be aggressive on the back line. The Gunners are up five points in the table and that leaves them in a favorable position heading into the back stretch of December, but with Manchester City gaining ground, this could be a huge match when things are all wrapped up later down the line. Man City comes in as the betting favorites on the match as they are hosting and now Arsenal will get the chance to turn things up on Saturday.
Manchester City comes in hot after playing well in the Champions League, as they ended up the runners up in Group D to Bayern Munich after a great match on Dec. 10, scoring three straight goals to get a 3-2 victory after falling down 2-0. The team got scores from David Silva, Aleksandar Kolarov and James Milner and they come into the matchup with 29 points on the table and they are trailing Chelsea at number three with 30 points, while Liverpool is in second position with the same amount of points with the Gunners on top.
Everton is in fifth position on the table with 28 points, while Tottenham is in the sixth position and the Spurs have 27 points on the table. Sunday has some exciting matches as well with Aston Villa taking on Manchester United and they will be looking for a nice result, as will Tottenham as they welcome Liverpool to White Hart Lane in the late match on Sunday. Manchester United has been struggling a bit as of late and they are ninth on the league table and will try and turn things around on Sunday with a positive result.