Mikel Arteta has been told how to stop Erling Haaland.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City will have a near-fully fit squad to face Arsenal on Wednesday night. The reigning champions have hit their stride in the past month and have won 10 of their last 11 games in all competitions, ramping up the pressure on Mikel Arteta.
With the gap currently at five points it is a game that will swing the pendulum one way or the other. Arsenal could end the day eight points ahead and with the title back in their hands or City can cut that down to two with another two games in hand left to play.
The Gunners also have the tougher fixture list in the final straight and know they will need to be near on perfect to go on to lift the trophy. There is an added blow as well, heading into the game without key defender William Saliba and with doubts over the fitness of Granit Xhaka.
As for City, they are near to a clean bill of health. Outside of Nathan Ake – who was taken off against Bayern Munich last week with a hamstring knock – Guardiola had no update to give ahead of this mammoth meeting. “He’s not ready for tomorrow but I don’t know how the damage is,” he said on Friday before the FA Cup semi-final.
“They made the final tests this morning to know exactly how he is,” was the latest on the Dutchman before the game.
As for Ake himself, he said: “I’ve had it before and it feels a little bit less to be honest, but you never know with these things, so we will do the ultrasounds and stuff tomorrow and then hopefully it’s not too bad.”
Injury expert Dr. Rajpal Brar has offered his own take, writing on Twitter: “Nathan Ake right hamstring injury. The timeline depends the severity & location of injury (near tendon typically longer).
“Typically grade 1 is 1-2 weeks, grade 2 is 3-6 weeks & grade 3 is 10+ weeks depending on surgery or not. Higher risk for high pace players/positions.”
The Spanish boss has also been open about the fatigue of his side, especially in the lead-up to the game at Wembley on Saturday. “We are exhausted. I don’t know how we recover to play against Sheffield United [in the FA Cup semi-final]. Now is a tough moment for the game on Saturday,” he said at the time.
The result of this game won’t decide the title though. “It’s really important. Not decisive,” he said. “A lot of tough games for both sides but we can’t deny how important it is.”
Elsewhere, Phil Foden returned for the first time in over four weeks at the weekend and will be in contention to play here as well.
The key man to stop is Erling Haaland, though. Arteta was even afforded a tip at how to stop the on-fire forward. “From what he has shown in his career, it is difficult but as a team [you have] to have him involved as little as possible,” Guardiola explained.
“When we played against him when he was at Borussia Dortmund, we tried to have 70- 80 per cent ball possession.
“When we have the ball, we have more chances but the game we are going to play tomorrow will be a lot of transitions and duels. They plan to play a game so aggressive, almost man-to-man so the way you do the process is difficult.”
source:football.london
