Arsenal v Manchester City: Premier League – live!

41 min Another Tierney cross is booted behind by Fernandinho. Odegaard’s corner is headed on at the near post by Xhaka and headed away by a City defender. No, no idea.

39 min Saka plays in the overlapping Tierney, whose cross is cleared at the near post by Stones. Those two, Saka and Tierney, are such fun to watch.

36 min Tierney’s cross is miscontrolled by the stretching Odegaard beyond the far post. Arsenal have had a little bit of joy down their left through Tierney and Saka. On the other side, Pepe has hardly touched the ball.

34 min: Chance for City Holding makes a vital block from Gundogan, who was put through by Fernandinho. Gundogan’s first touch wasn’t the best, which allowed Holding to get across and block the shot.

32 min This City side remind me more and more of Spain in 2012 – not quite as expansive or entertaining as previous versions, but with a crushing superiority that breaks the will of their opponents.

30 min Xhaka waves a lovely outside-of-the-foot pass to Tierney, who charges into space and hits a vicious rising drive that is saved almost nonchalantly by Ederson. It was a beautiful strike from Tierney.

29 min Bellerin tries to play the ball down the line, mistimes his foot movement and kicks the ball straight out of play.

27 min Mahrez charges menacingly at Tierney, cuts inside and slides a low shot that is blocked by Pablo Mari.

27 min Tierney curls an excellent pass down the left to Saka. He moves infield and tries to find Pepe on the right of the area, but Fernandinho makes a good interception.

26 min City have had 70 per cent of the possession. It actually feels like they’ve had more.

23 min Cancelo gets round the back and rolls the ball invitingly across the six-yard box. There were no City players in there.

23 min The match is still painfully one-sided, but Arsenal will take some comfort from the fact that City are no longer creating a clear chance every two or three minutes.

19 min “Hi Rob,” says Ian Copestake. “Is Bellerin anything other than a good-looking man?”

Are any of us?

18 min Saka plays a one-two with Tierney and hits a crisp right-footed shot that is blocked by Aubameyang in the six-yard box. I’m pretty sure it was going wide.

11 min Arsenal need to keep this at 1-0 for as long as possible and hope the mood ofthe match starts to change. If City get a second goal soon they could run riot.

9 min City’s formation is fascinating. De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva are going where they like, so the two Arsenal centre-backs have nobody to mark. It’s a bit like a diamond midfield with two wingers.

8 min Arsenal are being overwhelmed. Mahrez turns Pablo Mari inside out and hits a shot that deflects wide off Tierney. City could already be 4-0 up.

6 min: Leno saves from Sterling! De Bruyne’s pass from the right finds its way through to Sterling on the edge of the area. He moves in on goal, twists back inside the sliding Bellerin but is then tackled by Holding. The ball runs loose and Sterling’s poked shot is smothered by Leno. The first chance was the best one; Sterling could have shot when he turned away from Bellerin.

3 min City have started with Bernardo Silva as a false nine and De Bruyne in midfield.

That was so easy. Mahrez killed a long pass from Dias with that beautiful first touch of his. Then he teased Tierney and floated a simple cross to the far post, where Sterling got between Bellerin and Holding and headed in from six yards.

Raheem Sterling scores inside 90 seconds!

1 min Mahrez’s cross skims off the head of Holding and reaches Sterling, who muffs an attempted volley with his left foot. That was half a chance.

“Hard to know where this one rates on the Arsenal Bad-Feeling-About-This-One-ometer,” says Charles Antaki. “Usually this last year or so it hovers around 50 per cent for games against mid-table sides, drops to single figures in the early Europa League stages, and climbs up again when faced with any half-decent opposition. So for Man. City it’s, what, 95%, or Man Utd 8-2 territory?”

Leicester have won 2-1 at Aston Villa to put a little bit of pressure on Manchester City. They are now seven points clear with today’s game in hand.

Some interesting decisions from both managers. Mikel Arteta has chosen Rob Holding and Pablo Mari at centre-back, with Gabriel and David Luiz on the bench. Nicolas Pepe is also in for Emile Smith Rowe.

Pep Guardiola prefers Fernandinho to Rodri, and it looks like Kevin De Bruyne will play as a false nine. Goal machine Ilkay Gundogan is also back from injury.

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) Leno; Bellerin, Holding, Pablo Mari, Tierney; Elneny, Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard, Pepe; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Ryan, Gabriel, Cedric, David Luiz, Ceballos, Smith Rowe, Lacazette, Willian, Martinelli.

Manchester City (4-3-3) Ederson; Cancelo, Stones, Dias, Zinchenko; Silva, Fernandinho, Gundogan; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Sterling.
Substitutes: Steffen, Walker, Laporte, Mendy, Rodri, Foden, Jesus, Aguero, Torres.

Referee Jon Moss.

Southampton, Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea, Manchester United, Birmingham, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, Cheltenham, West Brom, Sheffield United, Burnley, Liverpool, Swansea, Spurs, Everton. Seventeen teams have failed to resist the force of Manchester City, who are on an unprecedented winning run. Now Arsenal, who were tonked 4-1 in the Carabao Cup before Christmas, have a second chance.

Mikel Arteta’s side were at rock bottom after that City defeat, but a joyously unexpected 3-1 win over Chelsea four days later kickstarted their season. A similar result at Stamford Bridge a week later was the first big sign that, after a sluggish start to the season, Manchester City might be back to their best. Subsequent results have not disabused us of this notion. They are going to win the league; the only question is how many cups they’ll win to go with it.

Kick off 4.30pm.