City stumble at the Stadium of Light

Morning all.

2026 began well for Arsenal without Arsenal having to do anything. Man City went to Sunderland, and with all due respect to Granit Xhaka’s side, I expected the visitors to come away with all three points. Instead, they had to settle for just one, which gives us a 4 point lead at the top of the table.

I saw some of the highlights on Match of the Day, choosing not to watch this one live. I find our games quite stressful this season, I just can’t inflict any more anxiety on myself via another fixture we’re not involved in (although one which obviously has an impact on us). So, checking the full time after watching a Coen brothers classic was a very nice surprise. Maybe, if you want to look at this through a different prism, the fact Sunderland have taken points off both us and City at home might say something about them and the season they’re having, but obviously the way we conceded late felt quite frustrating at the time (still does a bit), because I think we played well enough in the second half there to win.

Earlier in the day, Liverpool dropped points to Leeds at home. I saw a bit of this one as it was happening, and while you might deem them irrelevant to the title race itself, I’m all right with them struggling a bit, especially with our home game against them not too far away. Leeds defended very well, Liverpool looked short of ideas, and hopefully that continues. I think it’s fair to say there’ plenty to talk about on The 30 later, our Patreon podcast that rounds up all the Premier League action, so I’ll park that, along with the Chelsea stuff, for now.

Back to us, and Mikel Arteta will meet the press this morning ahead of our trip to Bournemouth tomorrow evening. I guess the main question will be about the availability of Declan Rice whose swollen knee kept him out of the win against Villa. Some social media footage of him talking to Morgan Rogers could leave you a bit worried as to how bad the problem actually is, but he seemed to be moving around relatively well, so let’s wait and see.

This could well be a game where we see a bit of rotation from the manager, but it’s also one of those where you can’t overdo it by taking anything for granted. Given the way the fixtures have fallen, it’s a chance to extend the lead over City to 7 points, to exert a little pressure on them before they play managerless Chelsea on Sunday, but for me it’s one of those where any small drop in performance levels will get punished, even if Bournemouth are in quite indifferent form right now.

Andoni Iraola seemed to be quite definitive that Antoine Semenyo would play as he nears a move to Man City, but if the deal is as far down the line as it seems to be, it’d be odd for him to feature. It doesn’t typically happen for fear of something scuppering the move, but I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. It’d be useful for us if he didn’t, he’s a real danger and it’s a shame he’s going there, but let’s see.

As ever, we’ll bring you all the stories from the presser on Arseblog News. For a little extra reading this morning, Lewis has an excellent tactics column which looks at how Arsenal adjusted to change the game against Aston Villa, and it wasn’t just a half-time rocket from Mikel Arteta that did the business – have a read here. We’ll also have a Preview Pod on Patreon later this afternoon, so lots to come.

For now though, have a good one.