We have to wait until Sunday before we line up against City at The Emirates, which I think is going to be a really REALLY tough game, but before then today we’ll get more from Arteta when he has his press conference. The big question I think most of us are wondering is on the availability of Bukayo, with him having missed a few City games over the years and there being a pretty high likelihood that he does this weekend methinks. When Arteta was speaking about Saka pre Bilbao he made it sound like it might be a few more weeks. I know that he’s often careful with his words and sometimes, frankly, they can’t be trusted. But i think this time they’ll be extra careful with him and given the form of Madueke, I suspect there will be no rush for him to flip straight back in to the team.

There’s a question to be asked about William Saliba, but given he was named on the bench in Bilbao, I suspect he’s fine and should come back in. It’s nice to know that we have Mosquera who has done so well, but when you’re up against somebody like Haaland, you need your big dogs ready for war.

As usual, I decided to go and do a ‘vibes check’ from City fans as to how they’re feeling ahead of this one. The first thread I read was from a City fan who used the words “dreading it”. That shocked me. What I see in this City side is yes, a side still forming it’s identity, but the bones of that team are there and they are still a very dangerous side. Foden, Silva, Haaland, I saw Doku had a really good game yesterday. The rest of the comments were talk of ‘taking a draw’ with the usual other wind up merchants calling us “Tarquins”, which I thought was funny, but they’re not sure whether there’ll be rotation or not. We’ll also find out from Pep later today what he’s going to do but for me this is all about how we are going to line up. We need a statement win after the defeat to Liverpool and a draw doesn’t do any good for us right now, because I think Liverpool will cruise past Everton at home. The only time that Everton have won at Anfield in recent memory was during the COVID period where things were behind closed doors and the results were all weird anyway. Before that it was 1999 that Everton won there so we will already be playing catch up on the weekend’s action by the time we kick off, which is why we desperately need the win on Sunday.

The other news ahead of this game is what the pundits are all saying. Merse goes for a 3-2 to us, which I think is weird given we’ve only conceded one goal all season, but sadly Haaland is inevitable and I think it’s a pretty much cast-iron guarantee he will score. The difference is how much we will get against a City side who have shown they are capable of conceding, but in Donnarumma have a ‘keeper who basically got PSG to the final with his two displays. No more of that Nightcrawler shit against us, eh Gigi?

Troy Deeney is going for a 2-1 win, whilst Chris Sutton is on a bit of a Positive Pete vibe with us, saying he’s pretty confident we’ll beat City. I’m never so sure, because I have more emotional skin in this game compared to him, but his rationale that they played a poor United side is true. But his prediction of Haaland being bullied out of the game I think is a stretch. As already mentioned, he gets his obligatory goal against us and like the kane’s and Vardy’s of the past, there’s always one guy who constantly comes back to hurt us – it will almost certainly be him on Sunday. So if you’re thinking about the predictions side of this, most pundits seem to agree as most go for City to at least score. It’s funny though, I look for fan reactions of opposition fans, as well as pundits predictions, by way of a bit of a coping mechanism, but the reality is that it ends up making me feel more nervous ahead of these big games. I also fear karma. We’ve had such an amazing record for the last couple of years in the big games, but against Liverpool that came to an end. The irrational side of my brain then kicks in and I tell myself “what if everything gets reversed for this season though?” which is silly, because it doesn’t seem to work in reverse – like how we always fail to beat City or Liverpool at their gaffs. So why can’t it be true that we can build up a run of games playing City and winning?

That’s the nervous football fan in me, you see, because I am a rational person in all things in life except my football team. I hold this stupid belief that things that I do or think can impact what happens with 22 men on a football pitch, sometimes miles and miles away from me. My irrational fear of angering the football gods by being too cocky or brash is what stops me from making bold predictions of overwhelming victory. In reality, it doesn’t work either way; I don’t get some kind of reverse-psychology advantage when I’m overly pessimistic, so perhaps I should just start saying it as I see it. And right now, with more than 48 hours to go until we play, it does feel like we’re in the better form, we’ve started the season well, we look defensively solid and the squad depth is showing that our bench can make an impact – just look at how it did that in Spain in midweek.

So I’ll end this blog by telling you that I feel confident ahead of this week’s game. Let’s hope that confidence remains come Sunday.

Back tomorrow.