Wayne Rooney offers Arsenal key piece of advice to help stop Erling Haaland ahead of Man City clash

Former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has offered Arsenal a key piece of advice to help stop Erling Haaland.

Mikel Arteta will lock horns with Pep Guardiola on Wednesday night, with the Gunners needing all three points to ensure their lead is safe at the top of the Premier League table.

Arsenal's dramatic, but ultimately disappointing 3-3 draw against Southampton on Friday made it three draws in a row, dropping six points along the way.

The result has put the title in serious doubt, with Manchester City in striking distance of the league leaders.

It is likely to all come down to Wednesday's mouth-watering contest, where all eyes will turn to the Etihad for their title-defining clash.

However, Rooney has identified a weakness within the reigning champions, and has urged Arsenal to take full advantage.

What did he say?

Manchester City are in contention for a historic treble after brushing aside Sheffield United 3-0 in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.

While their comprehensive 4-1 aggregate victory over Bayern Munich saw them march on to the semi-finals, where they will face 14-time winners Real Madrid.

Erling Haaland has been a key component to City's success, scoring a remarkable 48 goals in 42 games across all competitions this season.

The Norwegian will be hoping to deliver again against Arsenal. Although Rooney reckons the north London side could find a way to stop him.

Speaking in his column for The Times, the former England international waxed lyrical about Haaland, but urged Arsenal to focus on their own game.

"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.

Instead of focusing on the 22-year-old, Rooney encouraged the Gunners to exploit City on the counter-attack, suggesting that was an area of weakness for Guardiola's men.

"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 also urged Arsenal to relish the experience and play without fear, or else 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.

Topics: Wayne Rooney, Arsenal, Manchester City, Erling Haaland, Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola, Premier League, Football

Joe Adams

Joe is a Journalist for SPORTbible with a primary focus on football. He has previously covered a number of other sports including boxing, rugby and F1. Wishes he was born left-footed.

@joeadamsjourno