The FourFourTwo Preview: Arsenal vs Man United

Billed as

A top four clash brimming with attacking flair and defensive uncertainty.

The lowdown

A fixture heavy on the spice, and with more than its fair share of intriguing subplots, too. Forget the grudge matches of old: Arsenal vs Manchester United is currently a game loaded with creative verve and one or two creaking defensive hinges. The needle has long gone, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be oodles of drama.

For Arsenal, this is yet another dicey fixture in what could prove to be the ultimate rollercoaster season.

Currently, manager Arsene Wenger would be forgiven for suffering from the bends such is the regularity with which his team has lurched from gory depths to glorious altitudes.

The highs, when they’ve arrived, have been entertaining (a 5-2 win at Leicester last weekend and a derby day victory against an understrength Spurs team a few days earlier).

The lows, though, are proving typically catastrophic. The manner in which goalkeeper David Ospina – literally – dropped the ball in a humiliating home defeat to Olympiakos in the Champions League on Tuesday evening has left many questioning the wisdom of Wenger’s team selection.

Why he benched established No.1 Petr Cech in a must-win game is anyone’s guess. Conflicting reports from both player and manager regarding his fitness has only intensified the issue in recent days. The good news, for Arsenal fans at least, is that Piers Morgan appears to have tweeted himself into oblivion with online apoplexy.

Arsenal’s creativity at least gives them optimism here. Santi Cazorla (28) and Mesut Ozil (29) have delivered more goalscoring chances than any other player this season.

Elsewhere, Alexis Sanchez is playing with hyperactivity and Theo Walcott has scored 12 goals in his last 13 starts. They will have to do better when shutting up shop, however. At times last weekend, Leicester threatened. While leading 1-0, they seemed particularly unlucky not to go further ahead having rattled the bar during the early stages. According to Per Mertersacker, the Gunners “struggled defensively”. United’s attacking personnel will have been licking their lips during the manager’s video analysis sessions.

Like the North London outfit, it’s going forward that Louis van Gaal’s men have looked most efficient. Anthony Martial is shaping up to be one of the signings of the season (although didn’t we think that about Angel Di Maria this time last year?), Wayne Rooney is on the scoresheet at last and Memphis Depay has settled in nicely. United have scored three in each of their last three league games.

It’s at the back that problems tend to arise. Southampton manager Ronald Koeman recently highlighted Daley Blind as a potential weakness during the Saints’ 3-2 loss at St Mary’s. By matching him up against striker Graziano Pelle he was rewarded with two goals from the Italian. It could quite easily have been three, except Pelle crashed his shot against a post.

Luckily for United, the previously maligned Chris Smalling has been in inspired form, although David de Gea’s clean sheet during the 3-0 rout of abject Sunderland was his first since March. All of which means that we’re teed up for a fixture big on goals, with form very much in United’s favour: they’re unbeaten in their last four away games against Arsenal. Five is a total they’ve yet to reach during Premier League history.

Team news

Despite claims from Wenger that he was unfit to play against Olympiakos, Cech has since intensified the mystery surrounding his omission by declaring his availability for the game. In the short term, both Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta have reported hamstring tweaks and will join Tomas Rosicky, Danny Welbeck and Jack Wilshere in the treatment room. Luke Shaw is out for at least six months with a broken leg. Michael Carrick is suffering from a knock, while Marcos Rojo is sidelined until mid-October with a hamstring injury.

ALSO ON FFT.COM Cech nicely rested for breakfast 

Player to watch: Anthony Martial (Man United)

Despite Walcott’s devastating form, it’s the Frenchman who’s considered the most glittering talent on display – three goals in his first three games with United is a pretty impressive return. Yes, eyebrows were raised and tweets dispatched on the announcement of the fee paid for his arrival, but his pace, tricksy footwork and dead eye for goal under pressure has since calmed any nerves about the finer details of a hefty contract. With his speed, Martial could unlock Arsenal here, particularly against the barge-like Mertersacker in the middle, although he might find it harder work on the flanks. Full-backs Nacho Monreal and Hector Bellerin were effective defensively against Leicester, but their tendency to bomb forward might leave them exposed.

The managers

Van Gaal is currently pleased with the balance in his squad. "You need luck, but the balance of the team is better than last season," he said. "Because of that we need to win our games. We shall improve every week, yes. I don't see it every week, but see that we are better as a team and a selection. I rotate more now because I can. Last year, in my opinion, I didn't have the balance. I have let 20 or 25 players go. So it's a new team." His rival this weekend has spent the last few days on the back foot after Arsenal’s defeat to Olympiakos, although he still believes they can qualify from the group stages. "We have to think we can deal with Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos away," he said. "Some aspects of our game were quite good but we lacked quality in our defensive concentration. The turning point was at 2-2. We had scored a goal and then straight away we gave them another goal to make it 3-2. We had 65% possession but we feel guilty because we gave easy goals away. We had a bit of bad luck as well."

Facts and figures

• Arsenal have a lower win percentage against Man United in the Premier League (24%) than versus any other opponent in the competition.
• Since making his Premier League debut back in August 2012, Santi Cazorla has provided more Premier League assists than any other player (32).
• Wayne Rooney scored his first ever Premier League goal (Oct 2002), his first Premier League goal for Man United (Oct 2004) and his 100th Premier League goal (Jan 2010) against the Gunners.
  More FFT Stats Zone facts

FourFourTwo prediction

A draw, heavy on the goals. 2-2.

Arsenal vs Man United LIVE ANALYSIS with Stats Zone

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