Manchester United are back in action again this weekend. With the appointment of Erik ten Hag confirmed by the club, Ralf Rangnick will look to try and finish as strong as possible for his remaining games in the dugout. With that in mind here is what we could expect to see as the Red Devils travel down to them Emirates.
Opposition
If you listened just to the media narrative at the moment, you would think Arsenal were on for a title charge. The way they are getting hyped up at the moment is slightly over-exaggerated in my opinion. That’s not to say they aren’t having a decent season, they are. And they are certainly doing better than United at the moment, although that isn’t exactly difficult. Of course the big win over Chelsea will no doubt give them a huge boost going into this game. But if you look at the form recently, it hasn’t exactly been stellar. In their last 6 games, they’ve had 2 wins and four losses. Far from perfect and hopefully we could see another slip-up on Saturday afternoon.
Mikel Arteta has tended to favour the 4-2-3-1 formation this season, starting of course with Aaron Ramsdale in goal. We will no doubt see a centre-back pairing of Ben White and Gabriel Magalhães. With Soares and Tavares as the full-backs. In midfield Xhaka will no doubt lineup alongside Elneny. With Smith-Rowe on the left, Saka on the right and Ødegaard in the 10. And then Eddie Nketiah up top.
Manchester United
Whilst no United fans think we are going to get top four, it is mathematically still a possibility. And if we got three points here that would be a massive help in that process. However, after losing to Liverpool in the way that we did there is a massive cloud of negativity and hopelessness around the end of this season. Even the announcement of Erik ten Hag didn’t do a lot to lift spirits. We all knew the announcement was coming any time soon. And a lot of people, myself included, suspected that the club would wait till after we had inevitably lost heavily to Liverpool. And unsurprisingly that is exactly what happened.
Whether this announcement will have any impact on the players remains to be seen. Although I highly doubt it, given that they have known for months that a new manager is inbound and they continue to put in poor performances.
Line-up
With that in mind, here is how I expect Ralf Rangnick to line us up this weekend. After a brief experiment in changing the formation for the first half against Liverpool, I expect to see a return to the 4-3-3 formation. With Varane reportedly back in training we could see him feature. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see Maguire and Lindelof. Diogo Dalot at right-back and Alex Telles should look to return on the left-flank.
In the midfield, I don’t think we are going to see Matic play two games in such close succession. And given that he is off in the summer I don’t want to see him playing anyway. The same with Paul Pogba. The injury sustained early on in the Liverpool game has him ruled out for several weeks. Potentially the rest of the season. Fine by me. Again he isn’t going to be here next season why should we be relying on him for a decent performance now.
And so I think we could see Scott McTominay return to the side after making the bench against Liverpool and looking back to full fitness. Alongside him we will no doubt see Bruno Fernandes. And I would like to see Hannibal Mejbri given the nod from the start. We were all praising him after the Liverpool game because he looked like he cared and put in a few strong challenges. But Hannibal is so much more than that, he is a really good technical footballer and now could be a great chance for him to show that.
As for the forward line, Jadon Sancho should start after only playing 45 minutes against Liverpool. I think we could see Marcus Rashford return. Just for the sake of resting Elanga and not running him into the ground at such a young age. After a terrible week off the pitch for our main man, Cristiano Ronaldo has returned to training. He could therefore lead the line as we travel down to the Emirates. Although if he decides that he needs more time to deal with the tragic loss then that is completely his decision.
Score prediction
In recent years we have really struggled to beat Arsenal. The 3-2 victory over the gunners earlier in the season is our only victory in the last six meetings. Arsenal have won 3 of them and we have drawn 2. I think this could be a really tough game for United. With the confidence boost from the Chelsea win, Arsenal could look to punish a very vulnerable United side. Hopefully, these players can sort themselves out. I’m not that hopeful however. With that in mind, I am going for a 1-1 draw.