Manchester City vs Arsenal, FA Cup fourth round: How to watch live ...

Premier League title rivals Manchester City and Arsenal finally meet for the first time this year when the FA Cup hits the Etihad Stadium on Friday.

The visiting Gunners have a five-point lead on City with a match-in-hand on the defending champions when it comes to Premier League play, and Arsenal’s done plenty good in the FA Cup.

Arsenal last won the FA Cup in 2020, their tournament-best title total hitting 14. Man City won the previous season, and City has six FA Cup titles. Only six teams including the Gunners have more.

Kick off: 3pm ET, FridayTV Channel: ESPN+Online: Updates via NBCSports.com

The main storyline is easy: this is the first time we’ll see red-hot Arsenal test its mettle against the Premier League’s gold, er, silverware standard.

Arsenal will have a chance to run at Man City’s back line with Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Eddie Nketiah, and more, though there’s be even more juice in this match-up if Gabriel Jesus was healthy. Ex-City man Oleksandr Zinchenko may be ready for this reunion, too.

City’s won four-straight match-ups with Arsenal, but the last Gunners win came in… the 2019-20 FA Cup, when Arsenal knocked off the holders. That’s a top, top recent memory for the club, a North London outfit who will hope its a harbinger of what’s to come later this season. Plus, there’s silverware in play here, too, you know?!?

Will Pep Guardiola start Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne? Man City’s next game isn’t until Feb. 5 versus Tottenham, but Guardiola may not want to give Mikel Arteta’s men a taste of the duo with a huge Premier League encounter looming Feb. 15 at the Emirates Stadium.

Man City is pretty healthy and should be able to deploy whoever Pep Guardiola wants to see against Arsenal, though we know the Catalan wizard is sometimes careful with what he does in cup competitions against Premier League rivals.

Gabriel Jesus will not be available to compete against his former club, while Reiss Nelson and Mohamed Elneny are unlikely to play.

Follow @NicholasMendola