Manchester City take a trip to North London and an early season clash with title contenders Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Fresh from beating Manchester United and Napoli, City will fancy their chances against the Gunners, who sit third in the Premier League table, but also need the points to keep pace with leaders Liverpool.Following Thursday’s victory over Napoli, manager Pep Guardiola said his team would be ‘going hiking’ over the next two days as they prepared to face the Gunners, who had an extra two days rest than City after facing Athletic Club on Tuesday.But the Blues will need to be on their guard at the Emirates Stadium if they are to avoid another thrashing at the hands of Mikel Arteta’s side. City lost 5-1 at Arsenal last season and the Blues will be anxious to avoid another heavy defeat to a title rival.FormArsenal go into the match in third place in the Premier League, having won three and lost one of their opening four fixtures. They started the season with a 1-0 win at United, then thrashed new boys Leeds United 5-0 at the Emirates a week later.Arsenal travelled to Liverpool before the international break and lost 1-0, but returned to Premier League action by beating Nottingham Forest 3-0 at home.The Gunners enjoyed a mixed pre-season, winning three and losing two of their warm-up matches, including a 1-0 defeat to bitter rivals Spurs. They have scored 8 goals at home and are yet to concede to the opposition at the Emirates so far this season. Arsenal are the third highest goalscorers with nine, but have the tightest defence, conceding just one goal so far in both the Premier League and Champions League.Danger Men and New SigningsArsenal were quite active in this summer’s transfer market, signing Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting for £55m, Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, also for £55m, Christian Nordgaard for £10m from Brentford, Christian Mosquera for £13m from Valencia and Kepa Arrizabalaga from Chelsea for £5m. The Gunners also splashed out £49m on winger Noni Madueke and £60m on Eberechi Eze from Crystal Palace. Blues fans will not have fond memories of Eze, who scored the winner in May’s FA Cup Final. And while Eze, if he plays, will be one player that City will need to stop, they also have to watch Gyokeres like a hawk.The Swedish star has already scored three goals from four games and has had seven shots at goal, giving him a goal conversion rate of 43%. Jurrien Timber has also weighed in with two goals form four games, as has Zubimendi.Riccardo Calafiori is the man to stop assisting. The Italian has got two from four matches and has attempted 103 passes so far, with 88 completed, giving him a pass accuracy rating of 85%. Timber has one assist but has a better pass accuracy of 89% and Leandro Trossard also has one assist to his name.The BossMikel Arteta is still the man in charge of returning the good times to Arsenal. Now in his sixth season with the Gunners, Arteta will be under pressure to deliver the Premier League title after a string of near misses, eventually losing out to City and Liverpool. His only success so far is an FA Cup victory in his first season at the Emirates Stadium and two Community Shield wins in 202o and 2023.Since leaving City, Arteta has overseen 295 Arsenal matches, winning 173 and losing 55, giving him a win ratio of 59%.Last Time OutIt wasn’t a day to remember for City as they lost 5-1 to Arsenal in February. Martin Odegaard had put the Gunners ahead after two minutes, but Erling Haaland equalised ten minutes into the second-half. Thomas Partey restored the lead for the home side a minute later, then added another three to compound City’s day and sum up their season.