COMMENT: A match to launch a team. To mark an era. For Arsenal, as they prepare to host Manchester City, that's what awaits on Sunday. But that's if they win. Should they lose, well, you do fear for them...
For Arsenal, it's three points or bust. It just has to be. There can be no excuses. Okay, okay, if City manage to come away with a point, perhaps we can reason that both teams live to fight another day. But if the visitors win. And win well. It's difficult to see how Mikel Arteta's young team pick themselves up.
Last season's clash at the Etihad was the decisive game of City's title winning campaign. Pep Guardiola didn't second guess. He didn't experiment. On a midweek night in Manchester he rolled out his big guns. His dogs of war. And they tore Arsenal to pieces. Ilkay Gundogan. Kevin de Bruyne. Bernardo Silva. It was literally men against boys. A chasm in quality as much as physique. City were a steamroller that night.
Cycle through to today and it'll be very different City which visit the Emirates. Gundogan is now gone. De Bruyne is sidelined. And Rodri remains suspended. Both the best attacking and defensive midfielders in the world won't make the trip. Even for the Treble winners, that makes a difference.
But there's also what Arsenal missed back in April that now needs to be considered. A fully fit William Saliba at the back. Plus the physical presence of Declan Rice in the middle of the park. Player for player, at full strength, City remain the superior team. But the champions aren't at full strength and Arsenal are now a very different proposition - at least on paper - compared to that night at the Etihad.
In the additions of Rice and Saliba, the Gunners now have the muscle to compete with City. Add the in-form Takehiro Tomiyasu and there's no excuse for Arsenal to be outfought on Sunday. Indeed with Rodri's absence, you can see Guardiola being concerned about how he physically combats Arsenal with what's available to him.
Rice, you fancy, will be key. A player coveted by Guardiola, he'll have a point to prove to the club he turned down. And with no Rodri to check him, this really should be a game he bosses. So far in a Gunners shirt, Rice has impressed. But this is an acid test. For a 100 million quid. For the player - the personality - that he is. Rice must make Sunday his stage. As much as Arsenal as a whole, for what he'll face, there can be no excuses.
As we say, for this team. For these players. This is an opportunity. An opportunity to take a major step forward in their development. To prove to themselves that they're capable of performing - and winning - on such a stage. There can't be any talk of underdogs. Or outside shots. To be a contender they must win on Sunday. And given the state of the opposition, if they can't beat City now, then they never will.
In terms of quality. Of ability. Arsenal will match City on Sunday. No doubt about it. But where it'll matter is between the ears. Is this Arsenal team ready to step forward? Can they make the right decisions in the crucial moments? Can they turn the heat up when needed - and then down again? In other words, can they perform like a seasoned, potential title-winning team?
Defeat at Lens on Tuesday does raise doubts. Like against Fulham. And facing Spurs. Arsenal were found wanting in key moments. Not for any want of skill. But mentality. Ruthlessness. Arteta, in the aftermath, conceded the maturity still isn't there.
“We made the most difficult thing - scoring the first goal - we were in total control of the game, that's when we conceded the goal," he later lamented. "After that we had four or three big chances to score and in Europe you have to kill the game when you have those chances."
That's the difference. City take advantage of those leads. They shut down any opportunities for the opposition. And they always manage to do it on the big stage. Defeat at Molineux. Bounced out of the League Cup. Okay, they're results Guardiola won't be happy with. But the manager knows, in the big games, in the big moments, his players will perform.
"If you think I will doubt my players, you are wrong," Guardiola declared after victory at RB Leipzig. "I rely on these guys unconditionally."
And why not? Pep can trust his players. Their ability. Their spirit. But crucially, their mentality. They're winners and they play as such.
The question for Sunday is: do Arsenal's players have that same edge? Because given circumstances, there can be no excuse. The Gunners must win on Sunday. Against City, they'll never have a better chance.
