Fresh from kicking off their Champions League adventures with respective goalless stalemates - although certainly not uneventful ones - Manchester City and Arsenal cross paths in Sunday's Premier League blockbuster at the Etihad Stadium.
Last season's champions and runners-up meet after Pep Guardiola's men were held to a 0-0 draw with Inter Milan in midweek, one day before Arsenal needed some David Raya heroics to salvage a point against Europa League holders Atalanta BC.
While neither side wore their shooting boots against Italian opposition, they have not been short of golden moments in the Premier League, with City perfect after four games and 10-point Arsenal breathing down their necks.
Guardiola's side have been seasoned Champions League competitors for a while now, but Arsenal only made their return to the promised land in 2023-24 after a seven-year absence, not that it did a world of harm to their title fight.
Here, Sports Mole compares how Man City and Arsenal fared in their games immediately after Champions League matches last season.
Man City's record after Champions League games in 2023-24
© Imago
Wins: 4
Draws: 5
Losses: 1
Goals scored: 22
Goals conceded: 13
The defence of Man City's European crown ended with an agonising quarter-final loss to Real Madrid in the 2023-24 Champions League, and Guardiola's side actually won fewer than half of their games immediately after a continental affair.
Indeed, the reigning Premier League champions prevailed in four of their 10 matches after a Champions League battle, while also playing out five draws and suffering one defeat, to none other than Arsenal at the Emirates in late 2023.
The Citizens were also incredibly fond of a high-scoring stalemate a few days on from taking part in a Champions League game; their 4-4 thriller with Chelsea, 3-3 spectacular with Tottenham Hotspur and 2-2 Crystal Palace draw were all played out in the immediate aftermath of a European game.
After matchweek one of the 2023-24 Champions League, Man City made light work of Nottingham Forest in a 2-0 victory, and later that year also kept clean sheets versus Manchester United (3-0) and Chelsea (1-0) in the wake of European showdowns, the latter result coming in the FA Cup semi-finals.
From their 10 matches straight after Champions League games, Man City struck 22 goals at a rate of just over two per match, while conceding a total of 13, including in a 1-1 draw with Liverpool and 5-1 destruction of Luton Town.
Arsenal's record after Champions League games in 2023-24
© Imago
Wins: 7
Draws: 2
Losses: 1
Goals scored: 21
Goals conceded: 7
Likewise, Arsenal's first foray back into the Champions League in 2023-24 was brought to a grinding halt at the quarter-final stage with defeat to regular nemesis Bayern Munich, although not to the degree of their 10-2 humiliation back in 2017.
However, the Gunners generally fared extremely well in the immediate aftermath of a European game last season, winning seven of those 10 following Premier League battles, while drawing twice and suffering only one defeat.
Arteta's men managed to avoid losing their next Premier League match after all of their six group-stage games in 2023-24, only dropping two points from a possible 18 in a 2-2 North London derby draw with Tottenham Hotspur while beating Man City, Sheffield United, Burnley, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton & Hove Albion.
Even in between some taxing last-16 ties with Porto, Arsenal found the energy to thump Newcastle United 4-1 and hold Man City to their goalless draw at the Etihad over Easter, and their only defeat after a UCL game came in that fatal home tie with Aston Villa after their first-leg draw with Bayern Munich.
Arteta's men responded well to crashing out of Europe, though, overcoming Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 straight after their loss at the Allianz Arena, and their win rate of 70% after UCL games last season is significantly superior to Man City's 40%.
Man City and Arsenal are oh so nearly identical on the goalscoring front, but the Gunners scored 21 compared to the Citizens' 22 after Champions League matches, although Arteta's staunch backline only let in seven strikes and kept five clean sheets.
With two of those shut-outs coming in both of their top-flight games against Man City, Fantasy Football managers would do well to take the virtual captain's armband off of Erling Haaland for this gameweek.
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