Premier League restart preview: Arsenal out to maintain unbeaten run in top-four push

Arsenal have endured a topsy-turvy campaign to date. The Gunners made a couple of astute summer captures in David Luiz, Dani Ceballos and Nicolas Pepe and after a solid debut season under Unai Emery, the club were supposed to push on to challenge for a Champions League finish. By November, the Spaniard was sacked. Freddie Ljungberg took over in the interim before Mikel Arteta was named Arsenal boss in December. 

Since then, the Spaniard has steadied the ship at the Emirates Stadium as the club seeks to make a late push for a top-four spot. Like Jose Mourinho with Arsenal's rivals down the road, fans are hoping the break in action will have benefitted Arteta as they aim to secure a Champions League spot this season. 

Pre-Lockdown Form 

Defeat to Olympiacos in February saw Arsenal knocked out of the Europa League, and it could have been so different after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's last minute miss that would've seen the Gunners progress. However, the Gunners have now lost just one of their last 13 in all competitions and an eight-game unbeaten run in the Premier League leaves Arsenal just a point behind Tottenham in the table with a game in hand. 

That said, Arsenal have won just five of their last 20 league matches, while no side has drawn more games than the Gunners (13) in England's top tier this term. Yet of those five wins, three have come in their last three league outings, suggesting that Arsenal had turned a corner just as lockdown was brought in. A significant break in action could halt that form, starting with their re-arranged trip to Manchester City next week, yet it's a positive ahead of their final 10 games of the season. 

Squad Updates 

There is little in the way of major squad updates for Arsenal ahead of their trip to City next week. Defender Calum Chambers and midfielder Lucas Torreira are still sidelined through injury, while Cedric Soares will have to wait that bit longer before he makes his Arsenal debut. 

At left-back, Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac are both fit and available for Arteta, yet the pair are behind Bukayo Saka in the pecking order, so there are unlikely to be sweeping changes from the XI that took on West Ham back in March. 

Run-in Difficulty 

Arsenal are brought back to action with a bang as they take on defending champions Manchester City in the rearranged clash from March. The difficulty of their run-in according to WhoScored's unique rating system comes in at 6.77, that ranking 10th, and they have a crunch run of matches to kick off July. Like with Tottenham, though, the stand out clash comes in their North London Derby. 

The pair are separated by just a point at the time of writing and the first North London Derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could well prove decisive in the race to finish in the top four.

Current League Position: 9th (8 points off the top four)