Manchester City and Arsenal love to play an attacking brand of football, and this season has been more about the former scoring goals for fun.

City are the team to beat in the Premier League and Arsenal will be eager to become the first team to beat the Citizens in 2017-18 season as the Etihad Stadium hosts both teams on Sunday.

Many experts might consider Manchester City to be the favourite, and rightly so, but Arsenal are a team known for their "special" days.

If it is Arsenal's day at the Etihad, we are up for a massive encounter. 

Something special brewing at City

There has been something special about City. Pep Guardiola has come up with a team of players with the attitude "we will score more than our opponents."

It seems to have worked as Manchester City have scored 35 goals, and have always been an attacking threat, which has been applauded by many.

With players such as Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus taking their game to the next level and scoring goals, Guardiola has the confidence to pick from these players.

Though their attacking line has hogged the limelight, one also need to praise their defenders, who have leaked just six goals.

Sergio Aguero, Leroy Sane, Manchester City, Monaco, UCL first leg
Manchester City forwards Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane.Reuters

This match is of huge importance to City, considering Manchester United will face Chelsea after this.

If City win and United lose (against Chelsea), the Citizens will open up a lead of eight points. However, their focus is on the Arsenal game.

"We know United are playing against Chelsea, so it is another game to make more advances on one of them, or both of them. That is why we have to be focused on an important game for us. At the least maybe (we could) leave Arsenal 12 points behind. It is a massive game for us for many circumstances, starting from the way we want to play, to try to win the game," Sky Sports quoted Pep as saying.

Big guns need to stand up for Arsenal 

Agreed, Arsenal may not have been their best this season, but they are still in the top five, which means they have not performed badly.

Their results against some teams like Watford have been disappointing,  but otherwise they have been decent, if not great.

For such matches, the big names of the club like Alexandre Lacazette, Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil have to show their class. They have players with flair to destroy City, but they need to be consistent.

Alexis Sanchez, Arsenal,
Alexis Sanchez will key for Arsenal.Reuters

Nothing new: Man City, a big threat

Arsenal will have to be solid at the back, and not allow Man City players many chances.

Per Mertesacker needs to be the rock both in the air as well as on the ground to give Manchester City a tough time.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is aware of the threat he brings to the table, but wants to show he is capable of fighting against the best.

"They are good, I don't want to take anything away from Manchester City at the moment, they are doing extremely well, they are top of the league and top of the European group stage. As well it is a good opportunity for us to show we can compete with them and that is what we want to show," Wenger said.

Where to watch live 

Manchester City vs Arsenal is scheduled for 3:15 BST, (7:45 pm IST, 9:15 am EST) start. Here are the live TV and streaming options. 

India: TV: Star Sports Select 1 and Star Sports Select HD1. Live Streaming: Hotstar.

UK: TV: Sky Sports Premier League. Live Streaming: Sky Go.

USA: TV: NBCSN. Live Streaming: NBCSN Live.

Australia: TV: Optus Sport Live Streaming: Optus Sport.

Middle East: Bein Sports Arabia. Live Streaming: Bein Sports Connect.