Manchester City face their biggest test of the 2025-26 season so far as they come up against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday evening.

Pep Guardiola’s men are in a rich vein of form heading into north London, having picked up convincing 3-0 and 2-0 wins at home over Manchester United and Napoli in the last week following the international break.

Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku are on fire and despite starting twice in the last seven days, the trio are expected to retain their respective places in the starting XI against Mikel Arteta’s side on Sunday.

City were handed one of their most damaging defeats of the Guardiola era by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium last term as goals from Martin Odegaard, Thomas Partey, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kai Havertz and Ethan Nwaneri secured a stylish 5-1 win for the Gunners in February.

Guardiola and co will be desperate to maintain their recent momentum and make it three wins on the spin and having lost to Tottenham and Brighton already this term, there is very little margin for error if City are serious about challenging for the Premier League title.

With five wins in five, Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the table to five points on Saturday as goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike secured a 2-1 Merseyside derby victory for the English champions at Anfield.

City endured their most difficult season under Guardiola last term and boasted a worrying record against the traditional ‘Big Six’, which the Blues will be very keen to correct as the 2025-26 season progresses after their investment into the first-team squad in the recent window.

Arsenal are one of City’s main title challengers and after February’s 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the north Londoners, Guardiola’s men will accept nothing less than three points at the Emirates Stadium in a monumental clash early into the season for the Blues.

Ahead of Sunday’s 16:30 UK kick-off at the Emirates Stadium, Arteta and Guardiola have confirmed their respective starting XI’s for the potential title decider:

Starting XI: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Zubimendi, Merino, Rice, Trossard, Gyokeres, Madueke

Substitutes: Arrizabalaga, Mosquera, Eze, White, Saka, Martinelli, Norgaard, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly

Starting XI: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Rodri, Silva, Reijnders, Foden, Doku, Haaland

Substitutes: Trafford, Stones, Ake, Nico, Savinho, Nunes, Bobb, Mukasa, Lewis