Wayne Rooney Provides Crucial Tip to Arsenal to Stop Erling Haaland Ahead of Man City Showdown

On Wednesday night, Mikel Arteta will compete against Pep Guardiola, and the Gunners must secure all three points to maintain their position at the top of the Premier League table.

Despite a dramatic but ultimately disappointing 3-3 draw against Southampton on Friday, Arsenal has now earned three draws in a row, forfeiting six points along the way.

 As a result, the possibility of winning the title has been cast into doubt, with Manchester City within reach of the league leaders.

The outcome of Wednesday's highly anticipated match at the Etihad will likely determine the winner of the title, as it has captured the attention of many.

Rooney has pinpointed a vulnerability in the current champions and encouraged Arsenal to capitalize on it.

After a convincing 3-0 victory over Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday, Manchester City finds themselves in the running for a historic treble.

Manchester City's 4-1 aggregate win against Bayern Munich advanced them to the semi-finals, where they will take on Real Madrid, who have won the competition 14 times.

Erling Haaland has played a pivotal role in City's triumphs, having scored an impressive 48 goals in 42 matches in all competitions this season.

Erling Haaland will aim to repeat his success against Arsenal, but according to Rooney, the team from north London might have a strategy to contain him.

In his column for The Times, the ex-England player praised Haaland, but also advised Arsenal to concentrate on their own performance.

"How do they stop Haaland? With William Saliba injured, there’s no prospect of matching his pace and power individually, and the only way is to go out and try to impose their own game," said Rooney.

Rooney suggested that instead of solely concentrating on the 22-year-old striker, Arsenal should exploit Manchester City's weakness on the counter-attack, as per his column for The Times.

"City can be vulnerable when you hit them in the transition and you saw it against Bayern Munich, particularly when Leroy Sané should have scored after Bayern won possession and broke on them.

"These are the opportunities you can get against City, and Arsenal have the players to capitalise in a way that Bayern didn’t — the likes of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus.

Rooney encouraged Arsenal to embrace the moment and play with confidence, warning that if they didn't, they could 'die a slow death'.

"Arsenal should focus on how to expose those City defenders rather than focus too much on Haaland. The mindset needs to be: nobody thought we’d be here, and now we’re playing for the title — so let’s go and take it.

"If they go with that positive approach, it’ll be a great game. If they sit back and wait? Do that against City and you die a slow death.