Man City clash ill-timed for leaders Arsenal

Wednesday's pivotal Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester City could hardly be more ill-timed for the North London side who are winless in consecutive league games for the first time this season.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, however, said his side will be fuelled by anger when they face City in a clash between the Premier League's top two tonight (1am, Thursday, Bangladesh Standard Time).

The Gunners lead over City at the top of the table was cut to three points at the weekend after a controversial 1-1 draw with Brentford.

Arsenal received an apology from the body in charge of referees after Brentford's goal was wrongly awarded because of a failure to properly check for offside by the VAR official.

"That certainly has made our players, staff and fans even stronger and with more desire to pass this hurdle that they put on us," said Arteta at his pre-match press conference.

"We ended the game after analysing all the images that we had with a huge anger and disappointment because that wasn't a human error. That was a big not conceiving and understanding your job and that's not acceptable. It cost Arsenal two points and that's not going to be restored."

Arsenal are looking to win the league title for the first time in 19 years, yet approaching a game at the Emirates which has such big implications in the midst of their current slump will be undesirable for Arteta.

His side followed up their unexpected defeat by relegation-threatened Everton with a 1-1 draw with Brentford on Saturday.

The result meant Arsenal slipped to only a three-point advantage over City with a game in hand.

They had 23 shots to Brentford's nine, but looked uncomfortable and struggled to make any real progress when faced with the opposition's steely rearguard performance.

A rare saving grace for the Gunners may be seen in January signing Leandro Trossard's impressive performance as the second-half substitute provided a much needed goal – a performance which could settle any nerves Arteta may have had about his side's issues in the final third.

CITY RESURGENT

While Arsenal continued to look far from their best, City resumed their ascendency as they appeared unphased by their recent off-pitch troubles to stroll past Aston Villa 3-1 on Sunday.

The Manchester club entered the game off the back of a week dominated by news of them facing more than 100 charges of alleged financial misconduct by the Premier League, yet their on-pitch exploits were unbowed.

City boss Pep Guardiola has lifted the league crown on four occasions since joining the club in 2016 and appears to have led his side to a recovery from a mini slump of their own in recent weeks.

Losses to Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in their five matches leading up to Sunday's victory had blotted their record.

However, they wrapped up the game by halftime against Villa and appeared closer to their usual selves.

The rampant City which had been lacking had returned, and goals from Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez before the break will have left Guardiola breathing a sigh of relief with a view to Wednesday -- even though top scorer Erling Haaland is an injury doubt after being forced off on Sunday.

Their resurgence, coupled with their hard-fought 1-0 victory over Arsenal in the FA Cup in January, should provide confidence for City that they can produce the performance needed to close in on the top spot and go on to retain the title.