Carabao Cup Preview: Arsenal vs Man City team news and prediction

Arsenal and Manchester City lock horns once more tonight with a spot in the semi-final of the Carabao Cup up for grabs. Arsenal's only win in their last six against City has come in domestic cup competition and they'll look to improve their form to breeze past Pep Guardiola's side. 

Ahead of this cup clash, we have all your need-to-know matchday information, including when the match takes place, where you can watch it and up-to-date team news. 

When is kick off? 

Tuesday 22nd December, 20:00 GMT 

Where is the match? 

Emirates Stadium, London 

Where can I watch it? 

Sky Sports Premier League / Sky Sports Football 

Route to the Quarter-Finals 

Arsenal's only reprieve in recent weeks has come in cup competition. Indeed, just one of their last seven wins have come in the Premier League, so they'll look to use the Carabao Cup as a distraction from their dire league form. The Gunners' two wins on their way to this stage of the competition have come against Premier League opposition having eased past Leicester and Liverpool and they'll hope to continue that run against Manchester City. 

City's path to this stage of the Carabao Cup has been a little easier than Arsenal's, with Pep Guardiola overseeing victory against Championship outfit Bournemouth and then a 3-0 win at Burnley to set up a meeting with the Gunners. City are unbeaten in their last eight in all competitions and have won their last three trips to the Emirates. 

Team News 

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is without striker and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang owing to a calf strain that saw him miss the 2-1 loss at Everton. Thomas Partey is still sidelined due to injury, while Reiss Nelson will be assessed. Granit Xhaka is suspended, but better news is that Gabriel returns from a ban and is set to feature from the off here. Gabriel Martinelli played 19 minutes off the bench on Saturday, his first competitive action since March, and will hope to play some part against City. 

Pep Guardiola has no serious injury issues, but is sweating on the fitness of new fewer than four players. Aymeric Laporte was deemed to not be fully fit for the trip to Southampton, while Gabriel Jesus missed the 1-0 win with a dental problem. Eric Garcia and Oleksandr Zinchenko make up the quartet of injury concerns.  

Probable XIs 

Arsenal - Leno; Holding, Gabriel, Tierney; Bellerin, Elneny, Ceballos, Saka; Pepe, Lacazette, Martinelli

Manchester City - Ederson; Walker, Dias, Ake, Mendy; Fernandinho, Gundogan; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Sterling; Aguero

Key Battle: Gabriel vs Ruben Dias

Two summer defensive captures from Lille and Benfica, respectively, Gabriel and Ruben Dias have both impressed following their moves to England. No Arsenal player has a better WhoScored rating than Gabriel (6.81) in the Premier League this season, even taking into account his sending off against Southampton last week. That said, the Brazilian's fourth worst rated performance in a Premier League game this season (6.46) came in Arsenal's 1-0 loss at City back in October.

Conversely, Dias' WhoScored rating in the 1-0 win over the Gunners was his second best (7.02) in a top flight game in 2020/21. Off the ball, Dias may be doing less than Gabriel, largely due to the way both teams play, but the Portuguese defender has been better at playing out from the back with his 92.3% pass success rate better than Gabriel (86.6%) and this trait will be key tonight.

Match Prediction: Arsenal 0-2 Manchester City