Phil McNulty
BBC Sport: Chief Football Editor

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City suffered the rare disappointment of keeping a clean sheet against an impressive Inter Milan in the Champions League – before thoughts immediately turned to Sunday’s colossal Premier League game against biggest rivals Arsenal.

The Gunners were the last team to keep City at bay at the Etihad Stadium in March, when manager Mikel Arteta appeared to field his side in a bid to frustrate Pep Guardiola’s team in a goalless draw.

Inter followed suit with similar results and now City hope to rediscover their lost strength against the north Londoners – if only for one game.

Will Arsenal and Arteta adopt a bolder strategy on Sunday or will it be business as usual?

The stage is set for Erling Haaland, who is looking to score his 100th goal for Manchester City after being thwarted and shackled by Inter’s iron-fisted defensive discipline. The Italians also showed enough counterattacks to give Arsenal courage.

City had their chances, notably two last-minute headers for substitute Ilkay Gündogan, and they will be confident of being even more ruthless at the weekend.

Arsenal have shown strength and resilience with wins from two difficult away games at Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, but this will be their toughest test yet.

There is always a lot at stake in this tie and that will be the case for both sides this time around, with City determined to make up for this rare failure and land a decisive blow in the title race.