The Premier League have only gone and served up one of the most storied fixtures in the English calendar for you on Wednesday night. North versus South. The longest serving inmates of the English top flight against the club that’s been champions of it more times than anyone other.
By Ian King
A bit of history
Arsenal and Manchester United have played each other 240 times in all competitions with United having won 101, Arsenal 89, and fifty draws. Their first meeting came 130 years ago this year, when they played out a 3-3 draw in what was then the Second Division, as Newton Heath and Woolwich Arsenal.
More recently than that, things got spicy with Arsenal’s return to the ascendency under Arsene Wenger in the late 1990s. Seven red cards were shown between February 1997 and February 2005, a period which also included the league fixture in September 2003 which became known as the “Battle of Old Trafford”. Slightly more recently, of course, came United’s 8-2 win against Arsenal in August 2011.
Recent form
Consistency is turning out to be the key to success this season, and both of these teams are making encouraging moves in this direction. Arsenal have recovered from their end of October mini-wobble by winning their last three matches and scoring 13 goals into the bargain. Manchester United remain unbeaten since they sacked Erik Ten Hag, though how much progress Rúben Amorim has made is somewhat tempered by the modesty of the opposition he’s faced. This is his first serious United test.
Key players
Marcus Rashford has scored three goals in the two league games for which Amorim has been in charge. Is this the beginning of a rebirth for a player who looked for a long time as though he’d fallen out of love with the game?
Regarding Arsenal, the better question is probably who isn’t a key player now Martin Ødegaard is now back to build a side around. They’ve scored eight goals in their last two Premier League matches, and those goals have come from seven different players.
Team News
Gabriel had to be withdrawn against West Ham after an issue that he picked up against Sporting flared up in the first half, though Mikel Arteta described that early withdrawal as ‘precautionary’. There may also be doubts over Mikel Merino, Thomas Partey and Myles Lewis-Skelly. Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are definitely missing.
Manchester United are sweating on captain Bruno Fernandes, who came off against Everton and was later seen on the bench with an ice pack on his ankle. In addition to this, Lisandro Martínez and Kobbie Mainoo are both suspended. Harry Maguire is fit again, but Jonny Evans, Victor Lindelof and Leny Yoro may all miss out.
Prediction
With so many key participants in both defences absent, both teams having scored goals for fun last weekend, and a history of this being a fairly high-scoring match, we might anticipate a lot of goals from this one. The recent Manchester City implosion will have given supporters of both clubs something to cheer about, albeit for somewhat different reasons. With United looking purposeful again under their new manager, this could end up a high-scoring draw. So let’s go for 2-2 draw.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
You can follow every game from the Premier League with FotMob this season — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.