Match Preview: Arsenal vs Manchester United

Introduction

Arsenal and Manchester United two fierce rivals meet again on Saturday at the Emirates. We surely hope that we are in for an exciting 90 minutes. With United coming after a shock home loss to Sheffield which puts them a point behind Manchester City at second place. They would hope to take the three points knowing it would be a tough task.

Whereas Mikel Arteta would hope to extend their winning run after their impressive performance at Southampton. Considering their abysmal start to the season the Spaniard certainly does not see any chances of their title contention, but would still hope that they could make up to the top 4. Neither team have massive stakes ahead of the game. Both sides would be well aware that this match could set the tone for the rest of their season, be it ensuring a bounce back in form for the gunners or putting the red devils up for a serious title fight.

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Team News

Manchester United

The only relevant doubt for the united lineup could be the inclusion of Eric Bailly who suffered a training injury. With the likes of Pogba, Bruno Fernandes, martial, and Mason Greenwood all in contention to start. With Antony Martial off form lately, we expect former PSG starlet Edison Cavani to lead the lineup and provide much needed finishing touch to the reds, we also expect both Scott Mctominay and Luke Shaw to push for a starting place.

Here’s how we expect them to

Arsenal

The two major doubts for the Gunners are Kieran Tierney and captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Tierney still being evaluated for Saturday’s fixture after missing both the outings with Saints but considering the magnitude of the fixture, we expect him to make the eleven. As for Aubameyang, he missed the last two outings due to his mother’s health issues. Thus he still expected to be ruled out considering the quarantine rules. Pablo Mari and Dani Ceballos are still unlikely to feature with both still recovering,

Both Thomas partey and Smith-Rowe limped off the field at St Mary’s but are unlikely to be left out, though the signing of Martin Odegaard would threaten the latter’s contention. The Real Madrid loanee is much likely to feature in the game and it would be exciting to see that whether the incoming Ø11 could emulate the strides of outgoing Ö10. We expect Arteta to stick with the academy boy Smith-Rowe to start who is providing much-needed stability lately.

This is how we expect the starting 11 to look like –

Match Facts

Arsenal has won 5 of their last 6 matches.
Man Utd has of 12 of their last 14 away matches.
In the previous 6 outings between the two, arsenal had won 50% of the matches, United have won 17% and 33% of the matches have ended in a draw.

Players to watch out for

Arsenal

Bukayo Saka

There is not much saying required to elaborate on the outstanding display of the young winger. He has been showing lately with a goal and an assist in the previous fixtures is indicative of his growing importance in the squad. We expect his consistent performance to again bear fruits for Arsenal, his linkup play with Lacazette and Smith-Row could be the key to unlocking United’s defence, as well as his crossing ability, could also serve in boosting his assist tally. Saka’s role could also determine how easily Martin Odegaard fit up in the team, considering his passing sensibility, it could ease the Norwegian playmaker in fitting into the set.

Thomas Partey

Partey’s presence in the Centre of the field has been pivotal to Arsenal’s success. He provides much-needed stability as well as an aggressive outlook to the team. Partey’s injury has always correlated to Arsenal’s low form this season and his partnership with inform Granit Xhaka could be vital to Arsenal’s Performance against top opposition.