Sutton has feeling Arsenal youngster will have big say against City

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Chris Sutton has told BBC Sport that he has a feeling Bukayo Saka will have more of an impact when Arsenal meet Manchester City on Wednesday than he did in the FA Cup tie between the two clubs last month.

The nerves will be building for Gunners fans. While there are likely to be plenty of twists and turns to come over the next few months, tomorrow’s game feels like a potentially massive moment in the title race.

Arsenal could extend their lead to six points with a game in hand. Or Manchester City could put themselves above the Gunners with one more meeting to come.

Sutton backs Saka to shine against Manchester City

Of course, they have already faced each other this term. They met in the FA Cup fourth round towards the end of January. On that occasion, it was the Cityzens who came out on top, with Nathan Ake scoring the winner.

Ake was praised for the way he dealt with Saka and kept the Arsenal star quiet on that occasion. But Sutton believes that it may be the 21-year-old who comes out on top this time around.

“I suspect Ake will come in at left-back, as he did when City beat Arsenal in the FA Cup last month,” he told BBC Sport.

“Ake has been playing well and scored the only goal in that game, but he doesn’t usually offer as much going forward and I have a feeling Bukayo Saka will have a much bigger say in deciding the game for Arsenal down that flank.”

Arsenal are definitely going to be looking towards their key men on Wednesday. Mikel Arteta’s side are going through a poor run of form right now, not winning any of their last three games in all competitions.

That is not all down to Arsenal. They were robbed of the three points against Brentford at the weekend, with the visitors’ equaliser controversially standing.

But the Gunners have definitely not been at their best for a little while. So, in some ways, there are no better games for Arsenal to have to turn their fortunes around.

The Gunners have often been at their best when their backs have been against the wall. And Saka has been one of those who has really stepped up.

It does feel that his battle against City’s left-back could be decisive.