Arsenal and Manchester City have each suffered setbacks in their opening matches of the Premier League season and meet in Saturday's early kick-off with the hopes of prolonging their respective foes' frustration.
Manuel Pellegrini's side come to the Emirates Stadium this weekend on the back of a loss to Stoke City, the international break giving City a chance to re-gather and assess what went wrong in that home defeat.
The Gunners also failed to clinch three points in their last outing, held to a 1-1 draw at Leicester City, giving both clubs cause to react on Saturday in a fixture that should play a big role in this season's title race.
Date: Saturday, Sept. 13
Time: 12:45 p.m. BST/7:45 a.m. ET
Live Stream: BT Sport stream (UK, subscription required), NBC Sports Live Extra (US, subscription required)
TV Info: BT Sport 1 (UK), NBC Sports Network (US)
Welbeck's Fresh Start
Scoring both of England's goals during a 2-0 win over Switzerland, Danny Welbeck is a man coming into form just when Gunners fans will have wanted, poised to make his debut for the club on Saturday.
North London has given a generally positive response to the arrival of the former Old Trafford youngster, and the Premier League's official Twitter account gives a glimpse of the talent they've got their hands on:
Welbeck is confident of his chances at success among new surroundings, too, speaking to The Guardian (h/t Goal.com):
It is well known I prefer to play through the middle so when I get my opportunity I just want to show what I can do. Once I get into the box and am getting the chances, I have got faith in my ability. Before, I wasn’t getting into the box because I wasn’t playing too much as a striker [for club or country], and I had to worry about my defensive work.
Listen, anyone can say what they want to say but I just know once I get the opportunity and a run of games up front, I will do my best. That’s definitely what I need.
Olivier Giroud's injury lay-off means that it was Alexis who occupied the more central route for Arsenal in recent games, but Welbeck's new journey starts here and against daunting opposition, no less.
This City defence won't be intimidated by a forward they've come up against during his United days, but the occasion should make for a rapturous atmosphere, whether the striker starts or not.
Community Shield Conviction
These two sides last met at Wembley in August, where the Gunners earned a shock 3-0 victory over Pellegrini's men, stark praise for Arsene Wenger's squad.
However, Pablo Zabaleta insists that result is firmly in the past now, per David Anderson of The Mirror:
It was the first game of the campaign and the squad were not all back from the summer or 100 per cent fit. We are much stronger than we were a month ago and we will continue to improve and get back into our stride as each game goes by.That said, Arsenal are a very good team and it is always a hard game at the Emirates. They have improved their squad and brought in some great players to strengthen their title bid, but we are looking to bounce back after the Stoke defeat and we will go there to win three points.
One would be tempted to agree the Citizens have largely come on since that defeat and currently sit one point and three places above seventh-place Arsenal.
However, the shock loss to the Potters of a fortnight ago shows that with the right tactics and certain members of the reigning champions' squad detained, they are most certainly vulnerable to further slip-ups.
Source: Bleacher Report
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