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
| 1st Half | Goal scorers | |
| Arsenal | 0 | |
| Man City | 0 |
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): 1. David Raya (GK) — 12. Jurrien Timber, 6. Gabriel, 2. William Saliba, 33. Riccardo Calafiori — 23. Mikel Merino, 36. Martin Zubimendi, 41. Declan Rice — 20. Noni Madueke, 14. Viktor Gyokeres, 19. Leandro Trossard
Man City (4-1-4-1, right to left): 25. Gianluigi Donnarumma (GK) — 45. Abdukodir Khusanov, 3. Ruben Dias, 24. Josko Gvardiol, 33. Nico O’Reilly — 16. Rodri — 20. Bernardo Silva, 47. Phil Foden, 4. Tijjani Reijnders, 11. Jeremy Doku — 9. Erling 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
4 mins: Trossard shoulder to shoulder against Khusanov and down. No foul, but City aren’t too sharp bringing the ball out.
2 mins: O’Reilly can’t pounce on a poor Raya’s poor clearance and Arsenal come away on the break. Gyokeres feeds Calafiori, who is welcomed to the game by one of Khusanov’s lusty slide tackles.
Kickoff: 1st Half
Reijnders gets us underway. I looks like Foden starting on the right for the visitors, with Silva shuttling around in the middle.
5 mins before kickoff: The teams are in the tunnel, including City goalkeeper Donnarumma, a man very familiar with the big stage who gets his first taste of this fixture. He’ll be bombarded with Arsenal set-pieces at some stage. Here they come.
30 mins before kickoff: The game could come down to the contributions of two Belgian wingers. Jeremy Doku has frustrated at times with his inconsistency at City, but backed up a pair of assists in the Manchester derby with a fabulous solo goal to sink 10-man Napoli. Leandro Trossard looked like being way down the pecking order at Arsenal this season after the arrival of Eberechi Eze, but his goal in Bilbao has persuaded Mikel Arteta to go with one of his tried and trusted options. Trossard scored a late, late equaliser against City in the 2023 Community Shield to set up a penalty shootout triumph, but he is goalless in six Premier League games for the Gunners against this opponent and was sent off at the Etihad Stadium last term.
50 mins before kickoff: Erling Haaland put in one of his finest all-round performances for City in last weekend’s 3-0 win over Manchester United. He was also on target in the Champions League in midweek thanks to a delicious Phil Foden assist. It’s an absurd statistic that Haaland’s five goals in the opening four matches represents his worst start to a Premier League season. He scored in both games against Arsenal last season and his box-office tussle with Gabriel is sure to grab plenty of attention once again.
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 wingLet’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:
| Date | Kickoff time | |
| USA | Sun, Sep. 21 | 11:30 a.m. ET |
| Canada | Sun, Sep. 21 | 11:30 a.m. ET |
| UK | Sun, Sep. 21 | 4:30 p.m. BST |
| Australia | Mon, Sep. 22 | 2:30 p.m. AEDT |
| India | Sun, Sep. 21 | 10:00 p.m. IST |
Arsenal vs. Man City lineups, team news
Arsenal remain without Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz due to their respective knee problems, although Bukayo Saka is back among the substitutes following his hamstring injury.
Martin Odegaard remains sidelined with a shoulder complaint. Gabriel captains the side in his absence and has his regular centre-back partner William Saliba back for company.
Leandro Trossard scored in Bilbao in midweek and is rewarded with a start, meaning Eberechi Eze drops to the bench.
Arsenal starting XI (4-3-3, right to left): Raya (GK) — Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, Calafiori — Merino, Zubimendi, Rice — Madueke, Gyokeres, Trossard
Arsenal subs: Arrizabalaga (GK), Martinelli, Eze, Mosquera, White, Norgaard, Nwaneri, Lewis-Skelly, Saka
Pep Guardiola made a late 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.
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: Trafford (GK), Ake, Stones, Gonzalez, Savinho, Nunes, Bobb, Mukasa, Lewis
Arsenal vs. Man City live stream, TV channel
Here is how to watch the match in some of the world’s major regions:
