GUARDIOLA SEEKS TO END MAN CITY AWAY RECORD AT ARSENAL

A visit to London to play Arsenal has been one of the least rewarding trips on City's travel itinerary over the last 45 years. It seems only Anfield has held more fear for City's less than intrepid travellers down the years.

Just one league win at the Emirates (or Highbury) since October 1975 takes some believing. Since winning surprisingly at Highbury in 1975-76 -- and even that involved going 3-0 up and then almost throwing it all away; the final score 3-2 after a gritty Arsenal fightback -- City have managed just one solitary league win (in January 2013) plus a slender League Cup win in 2011.

The modern day record against the North Londoners is much better than it used to be, but travelling away seems to have put a mental block on the players for longer than is natural.

In the space of a month, Pep Guardiola's men must conquer this hoodoo not once but twice, as they visit the Emirates this weekend and return to London to play Arsenal in the FA Cup semifinal on April 23.

Now may be as good a time as ever to break the bad sequence, however. Arsenal have slumped into their customary spring malaise, waving goodbye to the Champions League in embarrassing fashion and dropping dangerously far from the action at the top of the Premier League. So far in fact there are suggestions Arsene Wenger's side may miss out on the top four for the first time in his 21-year tenure.

These days you can almost set your watch by Arsenal's form. Strong in the autumn, buoyant at Christmas, threatening all kinds of wonderful achievement, only to falter when the clocks go forward. It has become ritual in North London and nothing has changed this year.

Plenty has changed at the Etihad, however, and plenty more is set to change this summer. The club's first great trophy-winning squad of the modern era will finally be broken up this close season, with the likes of Aleksandar Kolarov, Pablo Zabaleta, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure, Nicolas Otamendi and Gael Clichy facing the exit door.

As with the majestic Arsenal side of Robert Pires, Sylvain Wiltord, Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp, time waits for no man. Wenger presided over a team that married the flair of the aforementioned four players with the steel and energy of Patrick Vieira, Tony Adams and Steve Bould.

It was a side that City in particular had great difficulty attempting to hold in check. On two separate occasions, Arsenal smacked five past them -- one at Highbury and the other, most embarrassingly, at Maine Road in 2003 when a 4-0 half time lead for the visitors roused the home crowd to get to its feet and applaud their opponents off the field.

Three years previously, Joe Royle's shell-shocked side had been fortunate to ship only five goals at Highbury as Wenger's men again flowed like liquid gold through the startled visiting ranks.