In an exclusive column for talkSPORT.com, Mark Goldbridge delivers his verdict ahead of Man City vs Arsenal this weekend.
The Premier League is back, and it’s back with a bang with a huge title showdown on Sunday – how will come out on top? And is Bukayo Saka really world-class?
Arsenal will be the underdogs in the game and they have got to get a result if they want to win the Premier League.
Arsenal are the pretenders to the throne and Manchester City are the best – they won the treble last year and I still have them as favourites to win the league.
Man City do it week-in week out and there’s a feeling with Arsenal that they’re on the journey to that.
But they’ve had a couple of lucky escapes, Man City. I certainly don’t think they should be as close to Liverpool as they are.
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I think it was a penalty [the late incident between Jeremy Doku and Alexis Mac Allister in the recent 1-1 draw] and there have been a couple of other decisions, but we are where we are.
We’ve obviously had a long pause of action over the international break and that can be a good or a bad thing – a lot of players go away for international duty and the finger can go off the pulse a little bit in relation to the title race.
This is such a massive game and Man City obviously have the advantage being at home, but after an international break you’re going to lose a bit of rhythm.
Arsenal had such good rhythm before, can they take that into the Etihad?
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Saka is world-class… Foden?
A lot has been made of the individual player battles in this game, especially Rodri vs Declan Rice.
Declan Rice is having an amazing season and could well be up for Player of the Year. It’s very rare that you get a £100million player who justifies that fee almost instantly.
“I think he’s gone into that Arsenal team and added something they needed and it’s ridiculously impressive that he’d been so consistent making that step up.
But then you’ve got Rodri, who is the elite holding midfielder in world football at the moment.
There’s also been a lot of talk, especially with England, about Phil Foden vs Bukayo Saka – I actually prefer Saka to Foden.
I think what he’s done in his career is more impressive in the sense that Arsenal were not an established team, he came back from that miss in the Euros final and he’s been ridiculously consistent week-in week-out in an Arsenal side that’s still growing.
Phil Foden is a fantastic player but he’s in a team surrounded by amazing players and is being coached by an amazing manager in Pep Guardiola. I’m not taking anything away from Foden, I just prefer Saka.
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I think everybody has an individual appreciation for what ‘world-class’ means – I speak to some people and it’s amazing what they deem to be ‘world-class’.
James Maddison is not world-class. He’s a good player but he’s not world-class, but some people (Spurs fans) would say that he is.
I do think Saka is world-class, because his consistency since the Euros has been so good, that I genuinely think he is world-class. I think he’s a player who would drop into most teams.
Some people feel you’ve got to win something, but I disagree with that. There are countless players who are world-class who never played in the World Cup because their national team wasn’t good enough to do it.
Erling Haaland doesn’t play in international tournaments, but he’s definitely a world-class striker.
I think Saka is world-class and I think more players in that Arsenal team can become world-class. I’d say Odegaard, if Arsenal actually achieve things, would start breaking into that bracket.
Mark’s Man City vs Arsenal combined XI:
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Score prediction:
I’ll go Man City 2-1. I think Man City will win, unfortunately.