Football 
Tennis 
Horse Racing Man City vs Arsenal Bet Builder Tips: 2.10 Builder for Friday’s FA Cup Clash
Man City vs Arsenal Bet Builder Tips: Friday, January 27th
It’s a seismic battle in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup, and with that, bettingexpert provide Man City vs Arsenal Bet Builder Tips for your consideration. The FA Cup’s usual enchantment comes with lower-league opposition daring to dream. Instead, on Friday evening, we have a dress rehearsal for the Premier League’s two biggest games of the season in months to come.
In this article:
Man City vs Arsenal Preview
England, FA Cup, Friday, January 27th, 20:00 (UK)
As the race for the Premier League intensifies, two clubs emerge as frontrunners to witness their name etched on the most-wanted trophy in England. Speaking of desired silverware in England, FA Cup weekend is fast approaching, and as luck would have it, the football gods have served up something special.
This time, it’s no David vs Goliath story. Instead, it’s Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City vs Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal – the Citizens vs the Gunners – the master vs the apprentice, so to speak. Make no bones about it, the time spent under Pep’s gaze has furnished Arsenal’s head honcho with the tools to offer the blue faction of Manchester a notable test.
Five points ahead and a game in hand, the Gunners are sitting pretty. However, Friday night is a break from all that. A welcome distraction to a Premier League battle showing no signs of slowing down. City’s 4-0 victory over Chelsea granted them safe passage to take on an Arsenal side, FA Cup royalty in these parts, who put League One Oxford United to the sword in the Third Round.
Nonetheless, the 90 minutes acting as a backdrop to the weekend will be an opportunity to lay a marker down – not only as a warning shot ahead of their two league fixtures in February and April but also for those who lay in wait in future rounds of England’s most prestigious domestic cup competition.
It will be interesting to see how either manager approaches Friday night. Going full strength and overcoming the other would harness genuine belief in either camp. Yet, it has been a gruelling season, and weary legs will be of no use as pressure and expectancy ramps up in the bread and butter of the Premier League.
Leandro Trossard and Jakub Kiwior pose as welcome January reinforcements for Arteta’s side. The once-Brighton man should be fit and firing, raring to go after falling out of favour under Roberto De Zerbi in Brighton.
Trossard brings with him a wealth of Premier League experience and head-turning form in tandem. Considering Emile Smith-Rowe is currently working his way back into the Arsenal setup after injury, one would assume there’s enough firepower to fight on all fronts at the top end of the pitch.
The wealth of riches in Manchester is glaringly apparent. So much so that a backup City eleven would likely joust for the title after 38 matches. Here, though, one would assume that getting one over on Arsenal would go some way, psychologically at least, to affecting the Premier League run-in. Of course, the FA Cup deserves the utmost respect, but there are other purposes at work here too.
Whether we see Erling Haaland and Bukayo Saka or not, with the former notching his fourth hat-trick of the season in January, expect the managerial pairing in the dugout to kick every ball. What is a Fourth Round tie between two top-flight clubs isn’t just as such this time around. It’s much more than that, with what we see unfold on Friday evening potentially indicating how the two monumental upcoming meetings may transpire.
Man City vs Arsenal Stats & Facts
- Arsenal have lifted the FA Cup on 14 different occasions – more than any other club.
- In the Premier League this term, Manchester City have plundered 38 goals in just eleven home games.
- The Gunners have only progressed past the Fourth Round once since 2017, despite their knack of lifting the FA Cup.
- The 6-0 thumping of Watford in the 2018/19 showpiece final was Manchester City’s last triumph in the competition.
Man City vs Arsenal Bet Builder
Manchester City at home is one of the toughest match-ups in world football. There’s no disputing it, and very few can stop Pep’s squad in full flow on home soil. The 38 goals in eleven Premier League matches at The Etihad is a testament to that, a figure borne from the 17.00 shots per90 average (previous 25 matches) in Manchester.
Goals of a City persuasion and the shots needed to break the deadlock make up two-thirds of the bet builder. If we see changes from both sides, Arsenal’s backup options are some way off City’s second-string. With that in mind and Erling Haaland likely to keep his place after hitting another hat-trick in the previous fixture, we can expect intense City pressure going forward.
Will said pressure be enough to tick off 12+ Manchester City shots? We’ll see. Yet, coming up with six attempts in either half seems like a manageable ask when at The Etihad, no matter what opposition is in front of them.
The final piece of the jigsaw – an Arsenal goal to see BTTS over the line – has reared its head in every single Premier League away game this season. Of course, Friday evening will be a step away from the blinding lights of the biggest league competition in the world, but it’s a handy measure of what we can expect to pan out.
The Gunners’ eight wins in ten propose a group willing and able to dictate games on the road, something they’ll need in abundance for their mouthwatering Fourth Round clash up North.
- O11.5 Manchester City Shots
- Both Teams to Score – Yes
Bet Builder odds: 2.10
Odds via bet365 as at 09:00, January 26th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
