Man Utd v Arsenal Premier League Preview

Arsenal stretched their unbeaten run to 19 games in all competitions on Sunday with a stunning 4-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the North London Derby and will aim to include another “Big Six” scalp in Manchester United to their impressive run when they travel to the theatre of dreams to face Jose Mourinho’s side in Wednesday’s prime fixture.

Unai Emery’s Arsenal began the season with 2 losses to Champions Manchester City and Sarri’s Chelsea, but have since gone on to win 15 and draw 4 in a barnstorming 19-game run in all competitions. The Gunners display at the Emirates against their rivals was nothing short of energetic, tenacious and dynamic, something that was difficult to associate with the team in the previous era. Emery has had the team steamrolling their opponents since the opening losses but has tried to maintain calm leading up to this game by claiming the result against the Red Devils on Wednesday will be the measure of how far his Arsenal team has improved since his arrival.

Manchester United have had an inconsistent season so far with only 4 wins at Old Trafford all season. United have 6 wins in the league with 4 draws and 4 defeats so far. Jose Mourinho came under attack some months back with rumours his position as manager was teetering on the brink after united fell to a 0-3 loss to Spurs, a Carabao Cup elimination to Championship side Derby County and failure to score a goal in 269 minutes of Champions League football. Somehow the Portuguese managed to wriggle his way out of the melee with some notable results but this time the vultures are back circling.

Much more than the results, United fans are past tolerating the dour football served up by the self-proclaimed Special One. The Red Devils have scored only 22 goals in the league and conceded 23 resulting in a -1 goal difference at this stage of the season. Their last game, a 2-2 draw against 18th place Southampton meant United failed to climb above Everton who lost 0-1 in the Merseyside derby to Liverpool and are still in 7th place with 22 points from 14 games.

Jose Mourinho has only lost once to Arsenal in 15 meetings in the league while Arsenal have not won away at Old Trafford in the league since a 1-0 win over their rivals courtesy of a Emmanuel Adebayor goal in September 2006. In the La Liga, Mourinho also holds a better head-to-head record to Unai Emery with Jose recording 4 wins and a draw in their spells at Real Madrid and Valencia. Wednesday’s tie will be the 228th competitive fixture between the two sides with United registering 98 wins to Arsenal’s 82.

Team News

Granit Xhaka will be a big miss for Arsenal as he serves a one match suspension following the accumulation of 5 yellow cards. Koscielny, Mavropanos and Monreal will not be part of the squad.

There are major selection worries for Mourinho with Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly facing late fitness tests while Ashley Young will also serve a one match suspension due to yellow card accumulation. Diogo Dalot may slot in right back for the suspended Ashley Young. Phil Jones and Luke Shaw both picked up knocks at Southampton and will be assessed for this game, while Marcos Rojo has a small chance to be included in the squad. Victor Lindelof and Alexis Sanchez have both been ruled out due to injuries. Romelu Lukaku was taken off in the 86th minute of the weekend game after falling awkwardly and it remains to be seen if he will be fit for Wednesday.

Verdict

Unai Emery and his troops are aiming to extend a 12 game unbeaten streak in the league and will have to be taken seriously if they manage to defeat United irrespective of the injury situation at Old Trafford. Mourinho has to weather yet another storm in his tenure as United manager and it will be difficult to bet against the special one who seems to always find a way to roar back from near death. If Arsenal are as fired up as they were against Spurs, it’s impossible to the see United take anything from this game. An Arsenal win is the safe bet.

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