The Gunners have made the decision to leave Ben White on the bench, with Jurrien Timber moving to right-back and Riccardo Calafiori starting on the left. For City, Ilkay Gundogan starts with no place for the injured Kevin De Bruyne.
Belgian international De Bruyne was forced off in midweek as Manchester City played Inter Milan in the Champions League. City have also left Phil Foden and Jack Grealish on the bench, with Savinho and Jeremy Doku starting out wide.
Arsenal are still without captain Martin Odegaard, who was injured on international duty. Bukayo Saka is fit to start out wide for the London side, with former City stars Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling both options from the bench.
It’s a big show of faith in Calafiori from Gunners boss Arteta. The Italian defender, signed from Bologna over the summer, is making his first ever Premier League start.
Declan Rice also returns to league action for Arsenal after missing last weekend’s win at Tottenham through suspension. The England international partners Thomas Partey in midfield, with Jorginho on the bench.
City manager Pep Guardiola had teased that De Bruyne might feature, but that optimism proved wide of the mark. “He feels a little better today. Tomorrow we train and we will see. He could be [involved],” he told reporters on Friday.
Arsenal can go top with a win, after finishing the last two Premier League seasons as runners-up behind City. Last season’s title race went down to the wire, and Rice has since opened up about the conversations with Arteta going into the new campaign which have given them hope of going one better.
“When we came back, it was like one of the manager’s first meetings – in terms of like, how can we be better this season, how can we upgrade,” Rice told Arsenal Women star Alessia Russo on Sky Sports. “We missed out on the league last year by two points, the year before was four points.
“So, it was how can we keep getting better and striving for more. We are really close. It is the finer details, the Villa game which let us down towards the end – we reflect on that. It was disappointing but overall such a positive year again.”
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Gundogan, Bernardo; Savinho, Doku, Haaland
Arsenal: Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori; Partey, Rice; Havertz, Saka, Martinelli; Trossard.
