Key Battles All Over the Pitch in City-Arsenal Showdown

There’s little doubt what match is the main attraction in this weekend’s Premier League calendar. The Etihad Stadium encounter between Man City and Arsenal promises to be a fascinating battle on Sunday afternoon, with City potentially entering the game in second place, providing Man United take the 3 points at QPR.

Humbled at Stamford Bridge last Monday, Roberto Mancini’s side finally lost their unbeaten record but have the perfect opportunity to bounce back at the expense of the Gunners. Arsene Wenger’s side are on something of a roll, though; an 8 match unbeaten run - consisting of 7 wins and a draw - makes them the form team in England’s top-flight right now.

WhoScored analyses each team’s stats and compares the key protagonists from either side ahead of the crunch showdown: 

Team Stats

The stats certainly hint at an open, entertaining match. City have averaged 21 shots at home - with 8.4 on target - while Arsenal have produced 17 per away trip, with 7 on target. Perhaps surprisingly, Arsenal have conceded the least shots per game of any away side bar Chelsea, with 13, while City concede an average of 9.3 - the third most impressive of any side at home.

In terms of possession, City have the third best home record, with 58.1%, and the Gunners have had 57.6% of the ball on the road, top for the division. Arsenal - despite all of their away possession - still exhibit a strong work-rate with 20.3 tackles away from home, while City’s home games have seen an average of 17.4 tackles. The visitors will need to curb their enthusiasm a little, though; they have picked up 14 away yellow cards, while City have been cautioned a mere 4 times at the Etihad - the most exemplary of any home side when it comes to discipline.

Key Players

Central Defensive Rocks

City skipper Vincent Kompany and Arsenal’s Thomas Vermaelen – since his recovery from injury - have been the stand out performers at the heart of each side’s back-four. The Belgian duo have demonstrated a resilience at the back but have also allied this with an eye for goal to aid their respective teams’ offensive threat. So how do they compare so far this season?

Vermaelen has edged it going forward, with 3 goals to Kompany’s 2 and an average of 1.4 shots to 0.5. The Gunners man has played 8 times so far and has won 1.6 aerial duels per game but only has a 46% success rate, while Kompany, over 14 appearances, has averaged 0.9 per game with a 76% success rate. City’s captain is superior when it comes to tackles (an average of 2.2 to 1.6) but Vermaelen’s reading of the game has proved the most impressive, with 3 interceptions to 2.2.

While City’s relentless attack has racked up 49 goals, their defence has been far from steady, without a single clean sheet in their last 8 games. Arsenal have picked up 3 over the same period but Vermaelen has played only 5 of those games - all 3 have come since his return, an indication of the increased solidity his presence brings to the back-line. As a result, Vermaelen has picked up a WhoScored rating of 7.36, the third best in the Arsenal ranks while Kompany’s 6.96 is only the thirteenth most impressive amongst Mancini’s men.

Chief Creators

Both clubs rely on the brilliance of a pair of Spaniards to lay on the goalscoring chances. David Silva has provided 8 assists already this season for City, more than any other in the Premier League Player Statistics. The former Valencia man has averaged 2.8 key passes over his 15 games, which works out as 1 assist for every 5.25 key passes. Mikel Arteta has made an immediate impact since moving from Everton to Arsenal and made 2.5 key passes per game, though despite producing a total of 30 over his 12 games, he has surprisingly returned just a single assist.

Arteta has quickly taken over the mantle as the heartbeat of the Gunners team when in possession - playing on the left of the double pivot, he produces an average of 79.2 passes, with a brilliant 89.9% accuracy. Silva’s role for City is more expressive. Drifting from wing to wing, dropping deep or foraging forward as he looks for available space, Silva makes just 57.3 passes per game in comparison (with an 88.5% accuracy) but his license to take up more advanced positions and join in attacks has boosted his creative returns considerably.

This is shown in his goal threat, too; the City man fires 2.6 shots per game and has bagged 4 goals, whereas Arteta has averaged just 1.5 shots, though a haul of 3 goals is almost on a par with his compatriot. Silva’s WhoScored rating of 7.87 is the top for City and highlights his importance and while this eclipses Arteta’s 7.59, the latter is the second highest Arsenal player in the WhoScored rankings, summing up a quick integration into Wenger’s new-look side.

Goal Getters

Sergio Aguero has wasted little time in adapting to the more frenetic Premier League environment since moving from Atletico Madrid in the summer. Already, the Argentine has bagged 11 goals as he spearheads his club’s attempt to wrestle the title from neighbours United’s grasp, and his debut season tally to date is bettered by only one man - Robin Van Persie. The Gunners skipper simply cannot stop scoring, averaging a goal a game over his 15 appearances - only Messi and Ronaldo, with 17 apiece, have scored more in Europe’s top five leagues.

Van Persie’s average of 4.5 shots means he has found the net with every 4.4 attempts, whereas Aguero, with 3.4 shots per game, just edges it when it comes to finishing, with a goal every 4.3 efforts indicative of his clinical abilities in front of goal. Van Persie - partly through his set-piece duties - has created 2.1 key passes per game, a significant jump on Aguero’s 1.4, though the latter’s have all come from open play in comparison. Both players have picked up 4 assists, and while Aguero’s 7.48 is second only to Silva for City,  Van Persie’s average of 7.94 is the best in the Premier League and fourth in the whole of Europe in the WhoScored rankings.