EPL: Arsenal and City's sinking ships must sail safe this weekend

Premier League weekend preview: Man City, Arsenal, and Aston Villa face crucial games to halt recent slumps and reclaim momentum against strong teams.

Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola are both on a slippery slope, with Liverpool plugging away, both sides must find solutions to their poor form this weekend. (Photo credit: Sky Sports)

It’s a big weekend in the Premier League for many reasons. Manchester City, Arsenal, and Aston Villa must all find solutions to their sinking ship, but all three have interesting fixtures.

The champions have lost three straight games for the first time since 2021, and you can’t pin the results on Rodri as they continued to create chances; Erling Haaland even blasted a penalty against the crossbar in the Champions League defeat at Sporting Lisbon; it’s deeper than a Rodri problem.

Pep Guardiola’s side lost in the League Cup last week at Spurs and then lost their league invincibility of 44 games at the Vitality Stadium with Bournemouth beating them 3-1 before the 4-1 hammering at Sporting Lisbon. They need to get a grip, but they’re away at Brighton this weekend. Will it be easy?

Aston Villa went from the team to fear to the team that now offers opponents all the points, and Unai Emery must be worried. Villa went down 1-0 at Club Brugge in the Champions League on Tuesday, losing their invincibility in the tournament.

Before the game in Belgium, Villa hadn’t conceded a goal in the tournament, having won all three games played, including the one against Bayern Munich. They lost scandalously at Spurs last weekend, having gone one goal up, but a game against Liverpool at Anfield isn’t going to be easy.

For the Gunners, the ship is sinking on many fronts, and it might just be the right time to press the panic button. The Gunners, a team that had only one loss in six months, now have three losses in eighteen days, which warrants a serious conversation.

Arsenal lost at Inter Milan in midweek, but it was a harsh result as they played the Italian side out of the park; however, their hosts were efficient and disciplined, taking their only shot on target while Arsenal’s four were all missed.

You can name Martin Odegaard as Arsenal’s major problem; however, they could have adapted better and tweaked when certain experiments weren’t working. Youngster Ethan Nwaneri has been a revelation off the bench, but Mikel Arteta doesn’t trust him to start games or come in earlier.

With Chelsea up next for the Gunners on Sunday, all eyes would be on Arsenal as they hope to prove that they’re not a wasted force. Chelsea beat NOAH FC 8-0 in the Europa League, but they would be damned to think it would be straightforward against a wounded Arsenal.