Rayan Cherki is coming for Arsenal! Devilish playmaker is Man City's greatest weapon against Mikel Arteta's plan to shut up shop in title showdown

With his in-game keepy-ups, rabona assists, wearing opposition players' shirts while on the bench and pulling moments of magic out of thin air, Cherki is leading the charge against the mechanised brand of football Arsenal have ushered in.

The Frenchman has been wowing crowds and television audiences with his tricks since his days in Lyon’s academy and burst into football fans' consciousness when he was just 16 by becoming the club’s youngest ever goalscorer.

It was far from a smooth path to the top, though, as he managed to get on the wrong side, on at least one occasion, with every coach he played under due to his cocksure style.

His individualist tendencies made him a fascinating signing for Guardiola and it must be remembered that there was a large amount of scepticism that he could thrive under a coach who squeezed all the creative juice out of Jack Grealish and became a sworn enemy of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

And it should be pointed out that even Guardiola has both admitted and demonstrated his unease at some of Cherki’s most audacious acts.

He shook his head when Cherki juggled the ball during the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal, the ultimate act of showboating, and he urged the player to take a leaf out of Lionel Messi’s book and keep things simple after his splendid rabona assist against Sunderland.

But recently the playmaker has been so good and so crucial in City’s pursuit of Arsenal that Guardiola has concluded it is best to let Cherki be Cherki.

Before facing Chelsea last week the coach said: "Rayan is a special, special player. He is a little bit of a free soul. I am a manager who likes control, we know this. So sometimes, on the touchline, it is so, so tough to watch. My heart... pff.

"He gets the ball, he starts the tricks, and my instinct is to shout, 'Rayan, please, play simple!' But if I tell him against Chelsea, 'Stop this,' I destroy the player. I take away his incredible quality. What he did against Arsenal, against Liverpool… exceptional. Unbelievable.

"So, I want to see it again. If he feels it, he does it. Go out, express yourself, have fun, and show the world how good you are."

Cherki did exactly that against Chelsea, helping City overcome a stodgy first half by prising open their stubborn opponents with a pin-point cross to Nico O’Reilly before sealing the victory with an unreal dribble and pass to tee up Marc Guehi to score.

Cherki was so good at Stamford Bridge that Guardiola concluded that he deserves special status and does not need to get his hands dirty with defensive work.

"His mum and dad gave us a talent to play close to Haaland but sometimes he plays close to [Gianluigi] Donnarumma and that is useless,” he said after a win that put City within striking distance of Arsenal.

"First half, he played close to me. Play close to [Erling] Haaland and the wingers and the attacking midfielders and use the talent that mum and dad gave to you. When he starts to do that, he will become an extraordinary player with his mindset and mentality. We'll bring the ball to you. It's not necessary to come down."

There was some disappointment among City fans when Cherki was signed over Florian Wirtz but former City defender Gael Clichy, who coached the player with France’s under-21 side as an assistant coach to Thierry Henry, was convinced he would succeed at City.

"If we talk about the quality of the player, I haven't seen anyone that good,” Clichy told GOAL back in September. "That's a big quote, but I do feel that if he can bring his off-the-ball game to a certain level, I think we could be talking about a player that can can reach Kevin De Bruyne’s numbers, because in tight spaces, in key areas of the pitch, he can create danger."

Cherki has been creating more than danger. Only Bruno Fernandes has more assists than him in the Premier League season, while Cherki has the highest number of goal creations in open play, with only one of his assists coming from a set-piece.

City might have been in an even better position at this stage of the season than they are right now had Guardiola used Cherki more. He started the Champions League last-16 first leg against Real Madrid on the bench and by the time he was called upon, with 21 minutes to go, City were already 3-0 down.

Just a few days later, he was back on the bench to face West Ham, a decision that was very hard to understand given Nuno Espirito Santo is renowned for his cagey, defensive style and Cherki would have been the perfect weapon against it.

Guardiola introduced him on the hour-mark with the game tied at 1-1 and Cherki injected some much-needed creativity into the team. But it was too little, too late, and City were left nine points adrift of Arsenal. Guardiola admitted afterwards that Cherki should have started.

"Now you can criticise me incredibly, for the selection, now I deserve it," he said. "It's sometimes for the balance. We learned in the beginning that when we played Erling with Jeremy [Doku] or Cherki that we are incredibly unbalanced, we do not have the stability that teams in the Premier League have to have."

It almost seemed that Guardiola had left Cherki out of those two games because he had come round to Arteta’s way of thinking and prioritised balance and control over flair and finesse. Since then, though, he has started Cherki in each game and Man City's maverick has not let him down.

The Frenchman was brilliant in the Carabao Cup final and in the 4-0 thumping of Liverpool before his masterclass against Chelsea. And now there is no question of whether or not he starts on Sunday.

The Gunners ground out a lifeless 0-0 draw against Sporting CP on Wednesday to reach the Champions League semi-finals and will look to do exactly the same thing at the Etihad Stadium. Guardiola warned "if we lose, it’s over" but the same is probably true if the game ends in a stalemate, as Arsenal will hold a six-point lead with six games remaining.

In reality, it is win or bust and Guardiola needs his side to be bullish. "If you could buy confidence in a supermarket, we would buy it immediately," he said.

He does not need to buy confidence, though. All he needs is to unleash Cherki, a player who looks like he has never been nervous in his life.

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