Premier League 2018-19: 3 tactical factors which could determine the fate of the Manchester City vs Arsenal match

3. Arsenal’s central midfielders playing long-balls to their wingers

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

It would be interesting to see Arsenal’s starting formation for Sunday’s match. They might go with two forwards in Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, or play Lacazette as the lone forward with Matteo Guendouzi, Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey, Aubameyang and Alex Iwobi forming a 5-man midfield in a 4-5-1 formation.

Either way, Arsenal’s central midfielders would have to play long balls occasionally to Aubameyang, who has a tendency to move to the flanks. Iwobi also likes to make his runs through the left flank and would prefer to have quick balls from the likes of Guendouzi and Ramsey.

However, Ramsey usually does not fall back to the middle third very often, and prefers to stay upfront. Therefore, the onus would be on Guendouzi to play those long balls to the wingers.

Guendouzi is not very fast, and is unlikely to be allowed much time on the ball by City’s midfielders. Therefore, he would do well to play those long balls to the likes of Aubameyang and Iwobi to open up scoring opportunities for the Gunners.

Aubameyang has scored 18 goals in 30 matches for Arsenal in this season so far, and would like to increase his tally against City.