Arsenal v Manchester City: Three facts that sum up one-sided Premier League rivalry
Arsenal will be looking to end a wretched run when they take on Manchester City in the Premier League’s most high-profile fixture of the weekend on Sunday.
Last year’s runners-up have the chance to strike an early psychological blow in the title race and jump ahead of the reigning champions when they meet in north London.
But to do so they will have to end a miserable sequence of top-flight results against City that stretches back almost eight years.
Here are three key numbers illustrating City’s domination of Arsenal.
December 2015
The last time Arsenal beat Manchester City in a Premier League fixture was four days before Christmas eight years ago.
Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud scored the goals in the Monday night game at Emirates Stadium, with Yaya Toure replying for the visitors.
Since then Arsenal have defeated City in the FA Cup, on their way to lifting the trophy in 2020, and beat them on penalties in this year’s Community Shield after a 1-1 draw, but in the Premier League it has been one-way traffic.
12 in a row
While Arsenal’s winless streak against City runs to 15 matches, even more damning is the fact that they have lost all of the last 12 league meetings. Yep, every single one.
That run began with a 3-1 win for City in November 2017, earned by goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, and continued all the way through to their last top-flight clash, in April this year, when Arsenal were put to the sword 4-1.
City’s total mastering of Arsenal has come under the guidance of Pep Guardiola. Since the Catalan coach arrived in Manchester, they are unbeaten in 15 Premier League clashes.
33-5
City haven’t just won a series of close encounters with the Gunners, they have largely blown them away whenever they have met.
Their 12-game winning run has seen them score three or more on eight separate occasions, including a 5-0 thrashing that tipped Arsenal into crisis at the start of the 2021-22 season.
The aggregate score in that time is 33-5 to City, an illustration of just how one-sided this fixture has been.