Arsenal and Manchester City go into their massive Saturday clash missing a small handful of players after the international break, though they should be at mostly full strength.
Their match should mark the debut of Danny Welbeck in some way, though it's not clear if he'll start outright. He was on England duty over the break, so he's only had a handful of training sessions with Arsenal. However, he wouldn't have been brought in on deadline day if Arsenal thought they were fine with what they had going forward. If Welbeck starts, it'll probably be up top, though Arsene Wenger could opt to play him out wide with Alexis Sanchez as his center forward.
Arsenal's biggest miss will be Aaron Ramsey, who picked up an ankle injury on international duty. It's a minor sprain and he'll be in contention for Champions League, but he's not expected to take the pitch against City. On the longer-term injury list, Theo Walcott is still fighting to get fit after recovering from last season's knee injury, whileOlivier Giroud is out through Christmas with an ankle injury.
Manchester City can only seem to get one of Stevan Jovetic and Sergio Agüero fit at once, and right now, that's Agüero. Jovetic has a hamstring injury and won't play. Fernando is also out with a groin injury, meaning Fernandinho is the likely starter in central midfield.Eliaquim Mangala is finally ready to play and could start, but Manuel Pellegrini has a Martin Demichelis-sized blind spot. There are also minor concerns over the fitness ofPablo Zabaleta, but he should play.
Projected Arsenal starting XI (4-2-3-1): Wojciech Szczesny; Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Mathieu Debuchy; Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta; Santi Cazorla, Mesut Özil, Alexis Sanchez; Danny Welbeck
Projected Manchester City XI (4-2-3-1): Joe Hart; Aleksandar Kolarov, Martin Demichelis, Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta; Fernandinho, Yaya Toure; David Silva, Sergio Agüero, Samir Nasri; Edin Dzeko
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