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James Quinlan & Aaron Catterson-Reid

Kolo Toure tells Arsenal how to exploit potential Man City weakness in crucial title-decider

Kolo Toure has claimed that Arsenal's wingers could be the key to beating Manchester City in their potential Premier League title decided later this month.

Pep Guardiola's side currently sit three points behind the north London outfit in the current league standings, with the reigning champions boasting a superior goal difference. The two title rivals going head-to-head at the Etihad Stadium in just ten days, a match that could very well decide the title considering how consistent both teams have been this season.

Toure, who played for both the Gunners and City, has admitted that Guardiola's team are almost unstoppable when on top form but the former Ivory Coast international did note that they have some weaknesses when it comes to defending out wide.

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Speaking about City to Sky Sports on Saturday evening, Toure said: "The space to hurt them when they play that system is on the sides. On the two sides we can see it is quite open.

"But, the problem with that, the thing that City does well, is that they’re very good on the ball and they don’t lose easy balls - it’s very hard to counter them.

"What they want to do really is have an overload on the middle, you can see they have four midfielders and when they play three in midfield, this three in midfield have to decide what they do. If they go man-to-man there is always one man free, if they go tight on the middle [Manuel] Akanji can go straight to the side and [Bernardo] Silva can go one-v-one with this side.

"It’s quite difficult to stop them but there is one team who is doing that very well against them - Arsenal, when they played them at the Etihad [in the FA Cup]. Arsenal went man-to-man and what Man City have done in that moment is they play long to [Erling] Haaland on top there. I think the goal they conceded came from that."

Toure then claimed that the performances of Arsenal's wide men, with Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka typically starting on either flank, could be the key to the current league-leaders getting a result at the Etihad. He added: "The Arsenal wingers are fantastic players, they are quick, they are strong, they are players who can score goals and they can dribble. Any player, one-v-one, they can do it.

"Two-v-one, they can still do it. I still feel like this area will be vital but when I’m thinking about the last game they played against each other, that was the first time I’ve seen City struggle a lot, because I could see Arsenal were on top of them.

"Arsenal made a few mistakes which caused them to lose the game, but I still believe that [next meeting] will be a tight, tight, tight game. For me, Arsenal is one team who can beat Man City."

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