'My worry...' - Troy Deeney fears for 'phenomenal' Man City star ahead of Arsenal clash
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Credit: Imago / talkSPORT YouTube
Harri Burton
Fri 19 September 2025 14:10, UK
Pep Guardiola might struggle to get the best of Mikel Arteta when Man City face Arsenal in the Premier League.
Man City head into the game after beating Napoli 2-0 at the Etihad, though the game was slightly let down by the Serie A giants being sent down to 10 men after Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s red card.
Kevin De Bruyne was cruelly sacrificed by Antonio Conte, with the game still goalless, but the Citizens managed to seal all three points via second-half goals from Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku.
Despite the trickery in the build-up to his goal, Doku was hammered by Man City fans for his lack of accuracy on the night, but he quickly silenced those doubters on Thursday, 18 September.
Sadly, for one of Guardiola’s starters, they may not have the same success against the Gunners on Sunday, 21 September.
Credit: Imago
Speaking about Haaland’s ability on the pitch, Troy Deeney turned his attention to Arsenal, suggesting that Arteta has a sure way of marking him out of the game completely.
“His goal output is phenomenal, but you know someone’s that good when we start looking for the flaws.
That’s when you know how good someone is,” he said on talkSPORT (19 September).
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“His link-up play isn’t great, but Haaland scores goals.
My worry is in games like this weekend, when Arsenal drop off deep, he hasn’t been able to just take it to the next level and figure out what that is.
“There will be three or four games this season when the opposition drops deep, Haaland gets five touches, and then we’re going, ‘Oh my god, is Haaland any good?'”
While it often feels that Haaland is marked out of the game by Arteta’s centre-backs, in his eight matches against the Gunners, he has recorded four goals and two assists.
In the last meeting, Arsenal won 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium, and despite the thrashing, the Norwegian striker hit the back of the net 10 minutes into the second half.
He touched the ball just 10 times, completed two passes, and lost 100 per cent of his ground duels [FotMob], but even so, he still hit the back of the net, and that should be a huge worry for the Gunners.
The Premier League title race is only just heating up, but even with City sitting in eighth with six points from four games, supporters will be expecting a comeback from Guardiola and his squad.