Down The Wings

Manchester United Fan Blog

Match Preview: Arsenal vs Manchester United

Arsenal vs Manchester United | Premier League | Emirates Stadium | KO 17:30 | Sky Sports

Sheffield United caused the upset of the season on Wednesday, when they beat Manchester United 2-1 at Old Trafford, to keep Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men second in the Premier League.

The Norwegian will expect better from his side, when they travel to The Emirates on Saturday evening, to face a resurgent Arsenal side that could climb up to joint sixth with a win.

Should United fail to beat The Gunners, there will be serious questions asked as to whether they can withhold any form of legitimate title challenge this season.

How do Manchester United Look?

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There are no new injury concerns that have arose following the defeat to The Blades, with Phil Jones and Brandon Williams being the only two confirmed absentees through injury, whilst Jesse Lingard will be unavailable, as he is expected to have completed his loan move to West Ham United before the match starts.

Eric Bailly missed the clash in midweek, but his training injury is not thought to be affecting him anymore, and he will be available for selection once again.

The real selection issues for Solskjaer will come when deciding who deserves to start against Arsenal. 

No one in the eleven that began the match against Sheffield United painted themselves with glory, with many putting in unacceptably poor performances.

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Anthony Martial has struggled for large portions of the season, and the boss will surely be thinking about dropping him to the bench and giving Edinson Cavani an extended run in the team.

The Frenchman has scored just two Premier League goals in sixteen games this campaign, whereas the Uruguayan has four in 13, and most of the latter’s appearances have come in the form of cameos off the bench.

Arguments can be made that a handful of others should also be dropped from the starting line-up.

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Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Alex Telles, Nemanja Matic and even Bruno Fernandes were poor last time out, and all of them must step up their game, if they are to make a positive impact against Arsenal.

Opposition: Arsenal

The Gunners struggled in the opening quarter of the season but have seen their results and performances improve dramatically over recent weeks.

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There was a point that they were being touted as genuine relegation candidates, but a run of six league games unbeaten have seen them put that well behind them, and they are now looking up in the table, as opposed to down.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has missed Arsenal’s last few fixtures, due to a personal family issue, and it is unclear as to whether he will be playing against United.

Talented youngster Martin Odegaard has recently arrived from loan from Real Madrid and could make his debut in the match.

Key Stats

Arsenal enter the game in impressive form, picking up 16 points from the last 18 available.

Prediction

Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United.

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