City to begin title defence against new man Emry’s Gunners

FILE: Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva (centre), scores the opening goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Manchester City at the Emirates stadium in London, on Thursday, March 1, 2018. Photo: AP

KATHMANDU: The football fans are in for a delight in the matchday 1 of 38 of English premier league as reigning champions Manchester City clash with Arsenal who have a new manager for the first time after 22 years.

Spainard Pep Guardiola’s side will travel to Emirates to face Unai Emry’s Gunners at 8:45 pm NST, today.

It will be tough call for the managers while fans are in for a mouth-watering fixture. Meanwhile, the football pundits considering the first-ever 100 point-haul by City last season have predicted that city will edge Arsenal who are in transition after Arsene Wenger’s long lasting reign.

The Spainard who has managed likes of Bayern Munich and Barcelona expects his squad will be aggressive going forward. After defeating Chelsea in the community shield past week and with young footballing stars Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem sterling back on training past week after their world cup stint, City squad looks bright and ready.

However, Guardiola will have to make do without David Silva and Danilo who are in the treatment table side lined with injuries.

For the Gunner’s Boss Emry, a tough fixture in the opening week is ahead as he has Sead Kolasinac (knee) and Laurent Koscielny (Achilles) ruled out with injuries while Aron Ramsey despite returning to training is in doubt.

Probable Arsenal XI: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles; Torreira, Ramsey, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Ozil, Aubameyang

Probable Man City XI: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy; Fernandinho, Silva, Gundogan, Mahrez, Sane; Aguero