Former Arsenal star Charlie Nicholas is predicting a difficult night for the Gunners when they travel to face Manchester City at the Etihad.

The Sky Sports pundit is expecting head coach Mikel Arteta to set up defensively in order to try and get a result, but he thinks it will be a tall order:

“When you come to play Man City, the hard part is when you get the ball. You seem to be in a rush, your touch is clumsy and decision-making is rash. Keeping the ball is the hard thing. When you don’t have it, you are chasing and it drains you.”

“City will have a lot of the ball – I think Arsenal will sit and play one up front. As much as Arteta loves playing a 4-3-3, he will have to protect the weakness at the back.”

Nicholas has gone for a 3-1 win for City, which is not surprising considering Arsenal’s poor defensive record this season, and their opponent’s ability to score a fair number of goals.

To be fair to Arteta, though, the Spaniard has shored up the defence during his brief time in the hot seat at the Emirates. The London club have kept seven clean sheets in his 15 games in charge.

However, there is no doubt that they are still vulnerable at the back, with his side having also conceded twice at home to Everton, Chelsea and Olympiakos since the end of December.