Tuesday 22 December 2015 11:16, UK
We asked Matt Le Tissier to pick his best combined XI from Arsenal and Manchester City ahead of their Monday Night Football showdown.
The Soccer Saturday pundit has slightly favoured City with six players from Manuel Pellegrini's side, and Aaron Ramsey, Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling all miss out.
Here's his full line-up...
GOALKEEPER
Le Tiss is presented with a tough decision right away, with two of the league's best goalkeepers on show at the Emirates. Petr Cech has been as impressive as expected since joining the Gunners from rivals Chelsea in the summer, racking up seven clean sheets from 16 games to date, a tally only bettered by Manchester United.
However, Le Tiss has gone with England's No 1 Joe Hart, who has the same amount of clean sheets but only two from their last nine games.
DEFENCE
Le Tiss splits his back-lines evenly between Arsenal and City, picking a full-back and a centre-back from each side. Rapid right-back Hector Bellerin gets the nod ahead of Pablo Zabaleta and former Gunner Bacary Sagna, with another old Emirates favourite Gael Clichy picked on the left over Aleksandar Kolarov and Nacho Monreal.
It's no surprise to see Vincent Kompany in the middle, with City's defensive stability seemingly dependent on his presence. Pellegrini's side have conceded just twice in eight games when their captain has been available, compared to 15 in the same amount of games when he's been missing. Laurent Koscielny is by his side, although the stats are less compelling, with the Gunners keeping clean sheets in both of the games he has missed this season.
CENTRAL MIDFIELD
Once again both sides are evenly represented as powerhouse Yaya Toure partners technician Santi Cazorla. While still some way off the form that saw him score 20 times in 2013/14, Toure has contributed two goals and five assists this season, although Fernandinho's box-to-box efforts have arguably been as important.
From the Gunners, Cazorla is preferred to Ramsey despite the Welshman flourishing in a central role in recent weeks, finding the net in back-to-back wins over Sunderland and Aston Villa.
ATTACKING MIDFIELD
The Gunners command two of the three attacking midfield roles, and can boast Mesut Ozil, who has had a hand in 15 goals from 15 appearances in the Premier League this season, with two goals and 13 assists so far.
Alexis Sanchez joins him having found the net six times to date, but he only has a slight chance of being involved on Monday night.
Sterling misses out along with team-mate De Bruyne despite both scoring four times for City this season, with fit-again David Silva getting the nod.
STRIKER
It's not a controversial call to have last season's top scorer Sergio Aguero lead Le Tiss' line, with the Argentina forward also expected to spearhead City's attack on Monday after recovering from a hamstring problem.
Olivier Giroud might feel hard done by, however, as he boasts 11 goals in his last 13 appearances for the Gunners in all competitions, while Theo Walcott and Wilfried Bony have also impressed at times this season, but they struggle to compete with Aguero's scoring record.
