On Thursday 2nd December, Manchester United host Arsenal in the Premier League. Michael Carrick looks set to lead the team out at Old Trafford with Ralf Rangnick’s work permits being delayed.
Opposition
Arsenal come into this game with some pretty decent form. In their last 6 games in all competitions, they have won 5 and lost only 1. That one loss was a 4-0 defeat to Liverpool. In the Premier League, they have played 13, won 7, drawn 2 and lost 4. That gives them a total of 23 points and sits them in 5th place, three places higher than United currently sit.
Mikel Arteta has turned Arsenal’s form around somewhat, and has done so mainly by using the 4-2-3-1 formation. Aaron Ramsdale has been making some, slightly overdramatic, big saves for the Gunners and so will no doubt retain his place in net. Gabriel Magalhães will no doubt partner Ben White at centre-back. With Tavares and Tomiyasu no doubt at left and right back respectively. Lokonga will most likely partner Thomas Partey as those two deeper midfielders. The three playing ahead of them will more than likely be Emile Smith Rowe on the left, Ødegaard in the 10 and Martinelli on the right. With Aubameyang as the number 9.
Manchester United
This game has a slightly strange feel to it. In that, Rangnick is officially the new interim manager. But, he won’t be in the dugout tomorrow night. He might not even be there for the Crystal Palace game at the weekend. And so, in the meantime Michael Carrick will continue to be in charge. So, trying to guess who is ultimately making the decisions is getting pretty confusing.
Regardless of all of that, Manchester United have to win this game. I know that might sound like this most obvious thing you can say about a game against Arsenal. Of course you have to win. But ultimately, United are 8th in the league, Arsenal are 5th. They’re 5 points ahead of us. They are probably going to be a rival for one of those last top four positions. And if we want to try and salvage anything from this season then we have to start taking points off these kinds of teams. Obviously, these kinds of statements are nowhere near the standards that we should have. But that is just an indictment on where we are at right now. That the best we can hope for is top four in the league. And even that doesn’t seem nailed on, there are so many teams fighting for the same spot.
Line-up
With the difficulty of deciding who is picking the line-up, let alone what that line-up is going to be. Here is how I am predicting that Manchester United line-up against Arsenal. I have gone for David de Gea in net who I thought made some key saves against Chelsea to keep us in the game. And then a back four of Alex Telles, Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelöf and Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Although Eric Bailly had a pretty good game against Chelsea by all accounts I just think Maguire is preferred over him. Especially in terms of a longer term more consistently reliable centre-back option.
As a midfield three I’ve gone for Nemanja Matic alongside Fred and Bruno Fernandes. I thought Matic had a pretty underrated performance against Chelsea. And if he can replicate that tomorrow night I think we stand in good stead to break up their attacks, retain the ball and progress play further up the pitch. I thought Fred had a very stereotypical Fred performance. In that, he did some things really well like breaking up Chelsea’s play and being aggressive in his pressing. But then some of his stuff on the ball was so frustrating, the one that obviously sticks out was the potentially match-winning chance which he decided to take for himself, rather than playing in Jesse or Ronaldo. I don’t think Bruno’s performances of late have warranted consistent starts, but I just cannot see him being dropped.
As a front three I think we will see Rashford, Ronaldo and Sancho. On the left, I don’t think we have a better option than a fully fit Marcus Rashford and so I think he’ll start. Jadon Sancho has been one of United’s best attackers lately. His two goals in the last two games have been brilliant. And I think he deserves to be able to continue this good run of form. And I can’t see Ronaldo being benched for two Premier League games in a row. Despite the rumours surrounding his lack of pressing and whether he’s going to fit in this new system that Rangnick might bring. I think he starts.
Score Prediction
Having said all of that I think this game is going to be really tight. In our past 6 matches with Arsenal, we have only won 1, drawn 2 and lost the other 3. For some reason we’ve had this stigma around playing Arsenal that seems to have gotten to us. But hopefully, we can get past that, put in a solid performance and more importantly put three points on the board. I’m going for a 2-1 United win, because realistically I cannot see us keeping a clean sheet.