Arsenal travel to Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon to face perennial rivals Manchester United. While this fixture might not retain the paramount importance it held in the past, its result on Sunday could have undeniable ramifications.
Arsenal have a game in hand over Louis Van Gaal’s United yet its entirely possible that either side could face a problematic play-off to compete in the UEFA Champions league proper. With those ties taking place in August and with many a player prone to ‘demanding Champions League football’, a fourth place finish has the potential to ruin a clubs summer transfer plans and, to greater extent, impinge badly on their season as a whole. Of course Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal have the advantage here, win or draw and you’d expect them to cement third position with only two games left to play.
Securing a result in Manchester will be no easy feat however. Before the Gunner’s Danny Welbeck inspired FA Cup victory in March one had to venture as far back as 2006 to see a certain Emmanuel Adebayor secure victory at Old Trafford. Futhermore, before that FA Cup triumph, United had won 11 of their last 15 games against the gunners in all competitions. While March’s win went some way to exorcising those demons, a positive result on Sunday against Manchester United would certainly speed up the healing process of both that record and Monday’s disappointing result against Swansea.
United themselves have not been in the best of form recently, with last weekends lacklustre win over Crystal Palace coming in the wake of three defeats. That run of losses, their worst since 2001, has again brought Van Gaal’s doubters into the limelight ensuring that both sides have plenty of incentive to secure a result.
Yes, healing processes and positives are a theme this week.
On the injury front, as we reported earlier this week, Danny Welbeck won’t be repeating his heroics against his former side having been ruled out with a knee injury while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Mikel Arteta remain sidelined. Aaron Ramsey is however likely to feature with Arsene believing he ‘will be alright’. United meanwhile look set to be without a number of first team names with an injury list more akin to London Colney. Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Luke Shaw won’t feature while Jonny Evans is a doubt. Former Arsenal talisman Robin Van Persie will be available though, along with Argentines Angel Di Maria and Marcos Rojo.
Such positivity on the injury front has been staple in recent times for Arsenal and will no doubt have contributed to Arsene Wenger’s positive mood going into Sunday:
“We can make a symbolic statement because we won over there in the FA Cup. To reproduce that would be psychologically important.”
“To do it again would convince us more that we have the strength and can be even stronger next season and show that we have made progress.”
Of course much talk has focused on the topic of said progress in recent weeks, surely events on Sunday will provide no better indicator.
The Match at Old Trafford kicks off a 4pm GMT on Sunday and as always we’d like you to share your predictions and thoughts on the game on twitter or in the comments below.
