Arsenal host Manchester City in an early season heavyweight clash in the Premier League.

Liverpool made it five wins out of five in Saturday’s Merseyside derby against Everton. Even at this early stage, Arsenal and City will be loath to lose any more ground on the reigning champions.

Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal suffered their only loss so far when they went down 1-0 at Anfield last month, while City returned to winning ways with a 3-0 derby triumph over Manchester United last weekend, following back-to-back defeats to Tottenham and Brighton.

Both teams claimed wins in the UEFA Champions League in midweek, although the form heading into the match is with Arsenal. Including the 2023 Community Shield, the Gunners are unbeaten in their past five matches against Pep Guardiola’s men.

They won the most recent of those games, the corresponding fixture last season, 5-1 in February.

The Sporting News is following the Arsenal vs. Man City match live, providing score updates and commentary

Latest live updates | Team news and lineups | Where to watch where you are

Arsenal vs. Man City score

Venue: Emirates Stadium, London
Referee: Stuart Atwell

Keep track of every game and every goal via SN’s live Premier League scoreboard

Starting lineups:

Arsenal (4-3-3, right to left): Raya (GK) — Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, Calafiori — Merino, Zubimendi, Rice — Madueke, Gyokeres, Trossard

Man City (4-1-4-1, right to left): Donnarumma (GK) — Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly — Rodri — Silva, Foden, Reijnders, Doku — Haaland

MORE: Phil Foden pays perfect tribute to Ricky Hatton’s memory in emotionally weighted Manchester derby

Arsenal vs. Man City live updates, highlights, and commentary

1 hr 10 mins before kickoff: Here’s the Arsenal side. William Saliba returns to the starting XI as expected. Leandro Trossard being rewarded with a start following his midweek goal against Athletic Club is more of a surprise. Bukayo Saka and Ben White are back and among the substitutes.

🔴 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 ⚪️

🔙 Saliba returns
©️ Gabriel skippers the side
🪄 Trossard on the wing

Let’s bring the fight, Gunners 👊

— Arsenal (@Arsenal) September 21, 2025

1 hr 15 mins before kickoff: The teams are in. Pep Guardiola names an unchanged starting line-up for the third time in eight days, which means Rodri has been passed fit to start. You wonder if fatigue will be a factor later on, although a routine win over 10-man Napoli on Thursday did give Guardiola chance to use his bench and keep key men a little fresher.

Today’s line-up! 💪🩵

XI | Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Rodri, Bernardo (C), Reijnders, Foden, Doku, Haaland

SUBS | Trafford, Stones, Ake, Nico, Savinho, Nunes, Bobb, Mukasa, Lewis

🤝 @etihad pic.twitter.com/bynRVVUYBU

— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 21, 2025

1 hr 35 mins before kickoff: This had the makings of a simmering rivalry on the field until last season brought something of a pause. City hauled in Arsenal and demolished Mikel Arteta’s men over the final stretch to win the Premier League title as part of a treble in 2022/23. However, they have not beaten the Gunners since a 4-1 Etihad Stadium success during that run and were taken to the final day in 2023/24. An ill-tempered 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium last September suggested we were in for a bitter battle but City collapsed during the winter, falling away from the title race. Less dramatically, Arsenal did likewise as Liverpool strolled to glory.

2 hours before kickoff. Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of Arsenal against Manchester City from Emirates Stadium. It’s almost certainly too early in the season to be talking like this, but will today’s game tell us who Liverpool’s most likely challengers for glory are this term?

Arsenal vs. Man City kick off time

The Premier League match kicks off in London at 4:30 p.m. local time.

Here’s how that time translates across some of the major territories:

Arsenal vs. Man City lineups, team news

Arsenal remain without Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz due to their respective knee problems, while Bukayo Saka also remains sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Martin Odegaard’s availability against Man City remains uncertain after the Gunners’ captain picked up a shoulder injury earlier this month.

William Saliba is expected to start at centre-back, having returned to the matchday squad in Bilbao, but Ben White remains a doubt.

Arsenal predicted starting XI (4-3-3, right to left): Raya (GK) — Timber, Gabriel, Mosquera, Calafiori — Merino, Zubimendi, Rice — Madueke, Gyokeres, Eze

Arsenal subs: Matchday squads released one hour and 15 minutes before kickoff

Pep Guardiola made alate call on the fitness of key midfielder Rodri. The Spain star is still working his way back to his physical peak following ACL surgery a year ago. He started both of the wins against United and Napoli but was substituted during the latter, having experienced discomfort during training on the eve of the game.

Nevertheless, Guardiola has stuck with an unchanged side for the third successive match.

Fellow midfielder Mateo Kovacic remains unavailable after undergoing Achilles tendon surgery in June, while Rayan Cherki is ruled out due to thigh problems.

Rayan Ait-Nouri has been sidelined with an ankle injury, along with Omar Marmoush, who suffered a knee injury while on international duty with Egypt earlier this month.

Man City starting XI (4-1-4-1, right to left): Donnarumma (GK) — Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly — Rodri — Silva, Foden, Reijnders, Doku — Haaland

Man City subs: Matchday squads released one hour and 15 minutes before kickoff

Arsenal vs. Man City live stream, TV channel

Here is how to watch the match in some of the world’s major regions: