Rattled Arsenal face City mettle test – Chelsea seek 11th successive win at Palace; United, West Brom face off

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LONDON, Dec 16, (AFP): All-too-familiar questions about courage, backbone and durability surround Arsenal ahead of their trip to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Premier League this weekend.

Arsenal’s 14-game unbeaten run had lain strong foundations for a determined tilt at the festive fixure list, only for Arsene Wenger’s men to come unstuck in Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Everton.

Wenger was left to voice time-worn complaints about an opponent’s “physical” approach, after his side shrivelled amid the Goodison Park roar, but Petr Cech is desperate to show Arsenal are no pushovers.

Arsenal’s defeat, courtesy of an 86th-minute header by Everton centre-back Ashley Williams, was their first in the league since a slapdash 4-3 loss at home to Liverpool on the season’s opening weekend.

Compounding their disappointment, they now trail leaders Chelsea by six points, while all of the teams around them — Liverpool, City, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United — won their mid-week matches.

If there is a consolation for Arsenal it is that City are by no means firing on all cylinders themselves.

Guardiola’s side went four home games without victory in the league prior to Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat of Watford and recently fell to damaging losses against Chelsea (3-1) and Leicester City (4-2).

Chelsea secured a 10th straight victory by winning 1-0 at Sunderland and can register 11 successive league wins within the same season for the first time if they win at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Antonio Conte’s side are guaranteed to top the table on Christmas Day, but his players remain on high alert for signs of complacency. Liverpool stole past Arsenal into second place courtesy of a 3-0 win at Middlesbrough and now face the London club’s conquerors, Everton, in a Monday night Merseyside derby.

Adam Lallana, who scored twice at the Riverside Stadium, said Liverpool’s display was “not too far off the complete performance”, but revealed manager Jurgen Klopp was not fully satisfied.

Sixth-place United visit seventh-place West Bromwich Albion on Saturday buoyed after snatching a 2-1 win at Palace on Wednesday via Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s 88th-minute strike.

Bottom club Sunderland and struggling Middlesbrough also lie in wait for Jose Mourinho’s men over the festive season, but midfielder Ander Herrera says United can take nothing for granted.

Standings

P              W             D              L              GF            GA           Pts

Chelsea  16             13             1              2              34             11             40

Liverpool               16             10             4              2              40             20             34

Arsenal  16             10             4              2              37             17             34

Man City               16             10             3              3              34             19             33

Tottenham              16             8              6              2              27             11             30

Man Utd                16             7              6              3              22             17             27

West Brom             16             6              5              5              23             19             23

Everton  16             6              5              5              21             20             23

Southampton          16             5              6              5              14             15             21

Bournemouth          16             6              3              7              22             25             21

Watford  16             6              3              7              21             28             21

Stoke     16             5              5              6              17             22             20

Burnley  16             5              2              9              15             26             17

Leicester 16             4              4              8              21             27             16

West Ham              16             4              4              8              18             31             16

Palace    16             4              3              9              28             31             15

Middlesbrough        16             3              6              7              13             19             15

Swansea 16             3              3              10             20             34             12

Hull      16             3              3              10             14             35             12

Sunderland             16             3              2              11             14             28             11

Note: Standings read as played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against & points.

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