{"id":538353,"date":"2019-12-14T13:52:38","date_gmt":"2019-12-14T18:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/?p=538353"},"modified":"2019-12-14T13:52:38","modified_gmt":"2019-12-14T18:52:38","slug":"nicolas-pepe-arsenal-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2019\/12\/14\/nicolas-pepe-arsenal-manchester-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicolas Pepe Available Again for Arsenal Against Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Arsenal<\/a> will welcome Nicolas Pepe<\/a> back into the fold as the face defending Premier League champions Manchester City<\/a> on Sunday. The club has confirmed on their official website<\/a> that the Ivory Coast international is available but a host of others are not.<\/p>\n

Arsenal v Manchester City Preview<\/h2>\n

Team News<\/h3>\n

Nicolas Pepe sustaining a bruised knee against West Ham United<\/a> and missed the trip to Standard Liege on Thursday. However, he has recovered and is available for selection against City.<\/p>\n

The news is not so good for five other players. Granit Xhaka<\/a> is not available after suffering a concussion against the Hammers and the club has not given a timetable for his return. Arsenal did confirm that Kieran Tierney<\/a> will miss up to three months with a dislocated shoulder.<\/p>\n

Both Hector Bellerin<\/a> and Dani Ceballos<\/a> will also miss out on Sunday’s match but should return to training next week. Rob Holding<\/a>, meanwhile, is hopeful of returning to training in the next two weeks.<\/p>\n

Manchester City have at least two injury issues<\/a> to contend with ahead of their trip to Arsenal. Sergio Aguero<\/a> and John Stones<\/a> will both miss out due to thigh injuries and David Silva<\/a> is questionable after suffering a knock midweek.<\/p>\n

However, Ederson<\/a> is available again after recovering from illness.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/h3>\n

Arsenal are winless in their last five matches against Manchester City and they also haven’t beaten City in the league in their last eight attempts. They did manage a victory against West Ham on Monday but City are simply a class apart from the Hammers.<\/p>\n

Plus, the Gunners are winless in their last five matches at home across all competitions and recently ended a run of eight games without a win in the Premier League. Safe to say, all is still not well at the Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n

Manchester City have struggled in their own right this season. They have lost four matches this season, the same number as they dropped all of last campaign. Pep Guardiola<\/a>‘s haul of 32 points from 16 matches is also the fewest since he took charge of the club.<\/p>\n

Still, the Light Blues of Manchester should easily handle the home side on Sunday as they have scored 44 goals this season, the most in the league, and face a squad with severe defensive deficiencies.<\/p>\n

Predicted Score: Arsenal 1 Manchester City 3<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>