It’s a massive English Premier League bonus on Wednesday night, as Arsenal and Manchester City collide in a battle between the top two.
The leading duo in the EPL take centre stage in the standalone midweek fixture at the Emirates Stadium.
And it’s no less dramatic for being crammed in amid the first set of Uefa Champions League knockout matches across the European continent, with a madcap season bursting at the seams following the break of the 2022 Fifa Qatar World Cup in November and December.
Mikel Arteta and his side have wowed the crowds in north London, as they seek a first league title in nearly 20 years.
The Spanish coach is rapidly coming back to haunt opposite number Pep Guardiola, following a spell as an assistant to the Barcelona legend at City.
It’s been a tricky couple of weeks for the Gunners, though, who were pegged back to a home draw with Brentford at the weekend despite Leandro Trossard scoring his first goal for the club.
They had gone down to just their second Premier League loss of the campaign a week earlier at Goodison Park, as Sean Dyche made a winning start to life as boss of ailing Everton.
But if you’d offered an Arsenal fan a three-point lead and a game in hand over the reigning champions at this stage of the season, they’d have taken little convincing.
While it’s all coming up roses in the capital, there’s the underlying stench of controversy around the Sky Blues.
A financial investigation is threatening to derail not just this season but much of the last decade-and-a-half of glittering domestic success at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola has felt moved to hold court in an astonishing press conference that he rapidly converted into a us-against-the-world rallying cry for the club he has run for seven years.
A couple of wobbles aside, they’re still doing the business on the pitch.
Improving Aston Villa proved no match on Sunday as goals from Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and a Riyad Mahrez penalty did the trick for a 3-1 victory at the Etihad, albeit with an injury concern to hitman Erling Haaland blotting the landscape slightly.
It was the perfect response to a shock defeat at inconsistent Tottenham a week earlier.
Local rivals Manchester United had even managed to sneak ahead of City temporarily at the weekend, thanks to their own flying form that has added a welcome layer of intrigue to the second half of the season.
And City come into this blockbuster knowing three points would restore them to the top of the EPL table on goal difference.
It doesn’t get much bigger than this – and the best news? There’s still nearly half of the Premier League campaign to play.
English Premier League predictions for 15 February
| Result prediction | Manchester City to win |
| Over/Under prediction | over 2.5 goals |
| HT / FT prediction | draw / Manchester City to win |
| Team to Score prediction | both teams |
| Anytime Goalscorer prediction | R. Mahrez(Manchester City) E. Haaland(Manchester City) |
