Arsenal vs Man City LIVE: Premier League latest score and goal updates Gunners strike early against rivals

GOAL! The hosts are ahead already!

It’s a nightmare start for City as Stones fires a poor pass into Akanji, who gets it stuck under his feet.

He’s under pressure and he’s dispossessed, with the ball rolling to an unmarked Havertz in the box. He takes his time, luring in Ederson before squaring it to Odegaard, who taps into an empty net.

An early sight of goal for the hosts as they briefly get in behind the visiting defence, but Havertz fires straight at Ederson.

The visitors get us underway in north London.

Both sides are in the tunnel at the Emirates now, so we’ll be underway soon.

A reminder that a win for Arsenal would take them back to within six points of leaders Liverpool (who will have a game in hand).

For City, a win today would help to consolidate fourth place for now, taking them to 44 points – three behind both Arsenal and Nottingham Forest.

Arsenal won this exact fixture 1-0 last season – they last won consecutive home league games against Man City between 2005-06 and 2008-09 (a run of four).

Having won 12 consecutive league games against Arsenal between 2017 and 2023, Manchester City are now winless in their last three against the Gunners (D2 L1).

Arsenal have received 19 Premier League red cards since Arteta’s first game in December 2019, more than any other side in that time.

City have earned 17 points from losing positions in the Premier League this season, more than any other side.

If the Arsenal and Manchester City squads are readying themselves for “war” on Sunday, the mood isn’t that different off the pitch. There are few polite niceties there. This is probably the club relationship with the deepest animosity in the Premier League, and even worse than some notorious rivalries from the past.

September’s 2-2 draw had more fallout than any other match this season so far, and that’s despite this campaign’s many refereeing controversies. One official at a rival club even marvelled at how the fallout had gone into “day six”. That 2-2 had opprobrium about referees and much more, including a farrago over footage of Arsenal executive vice-chair Tim Lewis leaving his seat without shaking hands with City counterparts. There was some irritation about that in north London, especially since they feel City’s senior figures don’t always welcome them.

The champions, meanwhile, see Arsenal as one of the clubs most actively in opposition to their ownership. Crucially, some of this has filtered down to the dressing rooms.

As mentioned above, it was during the last match between these two sides that Rodri suffered his season-ending injury.

That match was in many ways a culmination of the last few years of increasingly tense rivalry between these two sides, who have directly battled each other for the league in the last two seasons.

Erling Haaland had opened the scoring early on that day in September, before Rodri suffered his injury around 20 minutes in.

Soon after, a brilliant strike from Riccardo Calafiori levelled the match, and the Gunners went ahead as Gabriel headed in from a corner just after the 45-minute mark.

There was still time for more drama in the half though, as Leandro Trossard found himself sent off after receiving a second yellow – this one for delaying the restart after fouling Bernardo Silva.

From there, Arsenal were forced to produce a heroic defensive display as they came under wave after wave of City pressure, and they finally gave way as John Stones converted in the 98th minute.

Despite all this, the match was arguably more memorable for the post-match antics from several players, with Haaland telling Arteta to “stay humble” and also throwing a ball at Gabriel after the final whistle.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has shut down wild conspiracy theories that his side’s matches are being manipulated by bias referees – but defended his right to criticise decisions he does not agree with.

Referee Michael Oliver, who last weekend controversially sent off Myles Lewis-Skelly in Arsenal’s win at Wolves – a decision which has since been overturned by the Football Association – has not been selected to take charge of the Gunners’ Premier League clash against Manchester City on Sunday.

Oliver, regarded as one of the best officials in the Premier League, has faced death threats and abuse since the match at Molineux, and was tasked with officiating Ipswich’s 2-1 defeat against Southampton instead of being thrust back into the spotlight at the Emirates.

Yet the City boss insists he is not complaining after a two-legged Champions League tie against Real Madrid was added to a programme that already includes Premier League encounters with Arsenal, Newcastle, Liverpool and Tottenham.

City face Real in the play-off round after missing out on automatic place in the last 16 by finishing only 22nd in the league phase.