Outside of Chelsea, who had a very exciting transfer window, this January was an absolute snooze fest of inactivity. A rare exception was the Arsenal FC acquisition of Denis Suarez, who could be set for a debut after moving to north London on loan from Barcelona. He was the only player acquired this past window by any big six club that doesn’t reside at Stamford Bridge.
Could he feature Sunday in the weekend’s headliner clash at Manchester City? “He started to train yesterday and today with the group. I think he is good, he adapts quickly and he is a player with quality,” Arsenal boss Unai Emery said at his news conference today.
“He can help us with his quality but also his ambition to do something important here. I am thinking about all the players, If he starts, I have confidence in him.”
We’re predicting that he’ll make a second half appearance coming off the bench.
The Bank Arsenal FC Predicted line-up (4-3-3) at Manchester City
Attack: Alexandre Lacazette, Alex Iwobi Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Midfield Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey
Back line: Laurent Koscielny, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Shkodran Mustafi, Sead Kolasinac
Goalkeeper: Bernd Leno
Arsenal FC at Manchester City FYIs
Kickoff: Sunday, February 3, 4:30 PM local, City of Manchester Stadium
Google Result Probability: Man City win 74%, Draw 16% Arsenal FC win 10%
Pep Guardiola Press Conference Video:
Injury Report for both sides: go to this link
Starting XI Predictions: Man City
Odds via Bet365: City win win 2/7, Draw 5/1, Arsenal FC win 15/2
Prediction: Manchester City 3, Arsenal FC 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.