London - After the week he’s had, it might come as some consolation to Danny Welbeck that he will not be the only one under the microscope at the Emirates this lunchtime.
A two-goal hero for England but too average for Manchester United, it is perhaps inevitable that Arsenal’s new £16million signing makes his debut in one of the biggest games of the season so far.
If this was a transfer few would have predicted at the start of the summer, what about Frank Lampard pitching up at Manchester City?
The former Chelsea midfielder is ready to make his debut for the Barclays Premier League champions, according to Manuel Pellegrini, while Eliaquim Mangala - the most expensive defender in the history of British football at £32m - is also expected to be part of the squad.
With Joe Hart coming under scrutiny, not to mention increasing pressure from his deputy Willy Caballero, and Bacary Sagna returning to Arsenal for the first time since signing off with victory in last season’s FA Cup final, there are certainly plenty of storylines.
‘Look, they got Sagna,’ said Arsene Wenger, who had previously questioned whether the Frenchman had been the subject of an illegal approach from today’s (Saturday) opponents.
‘I am sorry he left us because I absolutely tried to keep him. He was a very good player and could cover us in central defence. We lost him. He could have gone even if Manchester City did not exist. He could have gone somewhere, Italy, anywhere.’
What kind of a reception will he get? ‘A good one,’ replied the Arsenal manager. Wenger has every reason to approach the early kick-off with some trepidation. In three of their 12.45pm kick-offs last season, Arsenal were beaten 6-3 by City, 5-1 by Liverpool and 6-0 by Chelsea.
It would be enough to scar any player psychologically, but Wenger insists the timings were not to blame. ‘I never honestly thought it was the kick-off time that cost us the games,’ he said. ‘It was the performances. The poor performance was not linked with the kick-off times.
‘We live in a society where you need to find explanations for everything. Let’s not forget we are competitive people and sometimes when your opponent is better than you, you lose. It wouldn’t matter if we played at 9pm at night or 12.45pm, they were better than us.
‘That was not, in my opinion, down to the kick-off time. Let’s not make a psychological problem of it. What is very difficult psychologically is to lose the games. In my job, the most important thing is always to find the right reasons and I don’t think it was to do with the early kick-off time.
‘I think we were beaten last year because we were not aggressive enough in those games. We were not mobile enough and lost too many challenges. As a unit, we were beaten all over the place. We were 2-0 down after 10 minutes (against both Chelsea and Liverpool).
‘You are in the position then that you have to take a huge gamble to come back and you open yourself up.’
Pellegrini was at pains to point out that last season’s thumping win over the Gunners will count for no more than Arsenal’s 3-0 win in the Community Shield last month.
‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘Different games, different competitions, different moments. Remember that when we played Community Shield we had nine players out of the team because they arrived too late to play.’
This will be City’s first game since allowing Alvaro Negredo to join Valencia on transfer-deadline day, effectively limiting them to three recognised strikers until January at the earliest. One of them, Stevan Jovetic, is currently sidelined with a hamstring strain.
The decision to off-load Negredo was, said the City boss, driven by the financial fair play penalty limiting the number of foreign players in his Champions League squad and the player’s desire to return to Spain.
So would Pellegrini not have been interested in a young Englishman from across town like Welbeck? He did not dismiss the idea out of hand.
‘At that moment no, because we had Negredo, Dzeko, Aguero and Jovetic - four strikers,’ he said. ‘Now we have one player less but we had less choice and could not spend the money.
‘We’re not only interested in English players, we’re interested in players of all nationalities if they are good players.
‘Arsenal are a very strong team with Alexis Sanchez, a very important player, and now with Welbeck.’
Today’s clash marks the start of an important week for both clubs as they both head to Germany for Champions League games, Arsenal to face Borussia Dortmund and City to take on Bayern Munich.
For now, though, all eyes are on the Premier League title race. And Welbeck will not be the only one in the spotlight.
Daily Mail