Arsenal and Manchester City are expected to fight it out for the Premier League title once again
Mikel Arteta
Arsenal are looking to lock in and get back to winning ways after the international break
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Manchester City evidently have enough on their plate after the Premier League confirmed they were guilty of all charges relating to financial rule breaches.
While City continue to protest their innocence, the verdict is a clear stain upon their reputation and the ruling unquestionably tarnishes the club's achievements.
Moving forward, they will be public enemy No.1 after they were exposed for producing "sham" sponsorship contracts to disguise upwards of £830million in funding.
For rivals like Arsenal, they can only focus on the task at hand on the field of play but equally, they will also be mindful of the magnitude of the charges.
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Meanwhile, City won't get the chance to get back on the pitch until October 11 when they travel to Anfield to face Liverpool and if that wasn't a big enough match already, the international break air mile numbers do not make for pleasant reading for Enzo Maresca.
In fact, research from Select Car Leasing has unearthed that City are collectively travelling 134,329.5 miles over the course of the three-week interval.
That distance, the equivalent of five times around the world, is more than any other Premier League club by a fair distance. Brentford are second in collective player miles travelled (109,984.9) and Crystal Palace, who defeated City in the 2025 FA Cup final, are third with 97,554.2.
Furthermore, Sunderland (92,248.08), Hull City (87,304.9), Liverpool (84,519.2) and Manchester United (81,169.3) will all be travelling more than Arsenal's combined total of 80,627.9 miles.
Manchester City's Italian manager Enzo Maresca
Things are looking really tough for Manchester City and Enzo Maresca(Image: PETER POWELL, AFP via Getty Images)
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That is a boost for Mikel Arteta ahead of a gruelling run of fixtures as the Premier League champions will play nine times across all competitions before the next international break. That stretch of games includes trips to Liverpool and Bayern Munich, also.
What's more positive is that only Liverpool (4695.5), Leeds United (4059.6), Newcastle (3947.5) and Everton (2726.8) have lower average miles travelled per player.
By contrast, Manchester City are travelling 7462.8 miles per player and only Ipswich Town (8019.1) and Crystal Palace (8,129.5) are doing more, largely due to having Asian and South American players on their books.
For Arsenal, perhaps it helps that a number of their players aren't on international duty this time around. Kai Havertz was sent home by Germany after picking up a hamstring issue.
Ben White and Noni Madueke weren't called up by England and Cristhian Mosquera wasn't part of the Spain fold due to a recent muscle issue.
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