FA Cup: Master vs Protege as City face Arsenal

Arsenal vs Manchester City (FA Cup 4th Round, Saturday 1.30 AM, LIve on Sony Liv)
Premier League title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal meet for the first time this season, but in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday as the Gunners travel to the Etihad Stadium.
Arsenal, who edged out Manchester United 3-2 last Sunday riding on a brace from Eddie Nketiah and a superb curler from Bukayo Saka will be tough code to crack for Pep Guardiola’s inconsent City side. They will, however, thank their lucky stars that their talisman Erling Haaland returned to his goalscoring best right at the nick of time, scoring his fourth Premier League hattrick against Wolves on Sunday.
In the FA Cup both teams had a comfortable third round tie with City blowing away Chelsea 4-0 and Arsenal putting 3 goals past Oxford United. Both Arsenal and City had fielded second tier sides in those encounters but are likely to start their first team regulars this time around, considering the magnitude of the encounter. A victory here for either side might give fans a taste of what to expect when these two eventually meet in the Premier League in February and then in April.
Arsenal players celebrate at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester United at Emirates stadium in London, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)
City are on a 9-game winning streak at the Etihad in FA Cup matches and will be eyeing yet another deep run in the tournament but the 14-times FA Cup champions Arsenal will have something to say about it.
The two teams have had contrasting fortunes in the tournament in recent times with City reaching the semi-finals in the last four campaigns while Arsenal have progressed past the fourth stage only once since 2017. In that particular tournament (2019-20), a newly-minted coach Mikel Arteta had guided Arsenal to a 2-0 win against City in the semi-finals. They would ultimately go all the way and capture their record 14th title that season.
This season, however, there’s a lot at stake. Arteta’s team will be looking to pip City, who are 5 points behind them in the EPL table, for the Premier League title and a victory in the FA Cup will be a huge sign of intent from this young team.
Manchester City’s head coach Pep Guardiola kneels during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Wolverhampton at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
The Gunners who will be travelling to the belly of the beast this Saturday, are on a five-game winning streak in away matches, scoring 12 times and keeping 4 clean sheets. They will likely start the team that featured in the impressive win against the Red Devils last week with only Gabriel Martinelli likely to be rested in favour of new signing Leandro Trossard from Brighton.

City, who are unbeaten against Arsenal, in their last 5 meetings in all tournaments, will also field a full-strength squad with Phil Foden likely to come back into the team after sitting out the weekend clash against Wolves due to a foot injury.
Expect free flowing and end to end football to light up the field when protégé (Arteta) invades the master’s (Guardiola) turf as two of the Premier League’s top teams clash for a piece of immortality on Saturday.