Obviously Arsenal will need to play a lot better against Manchester United on Sunday than we did against Olympiacos on Wednesday in order to get anything out of the game, but you would certainly expect a reaction from the Gunners and it seems clear that Arsene Wenger is treating the Premier League as his main objective this season and so will actually pick his strongest Arsenal line up.
Confidence and belief is still understandably thin on the ground among Arsenal fans though, but there are three good reasons for us Gooners to look forward to the home clash against the league leaders with real optimism that the Gunners can not only avoid another damaging defeat but can take all three points and go level with United on points.
The first reason is Wayne Rooney, their captain and talisman. Even though Louis van Gaal has given the England forward his vote of confidence and even moved him back into his favoured role as second striker, Rooney is woefully out of form. He missed an absolute sitter against Wolfsburg on Wednesday and displayed the first touch of a drunken buffalo throughout the game.
The second reason is their defence. While Smalling has been in good form, Blind has not been tested properly alongside him. And they have an injury crisis meaning that van Gaal is playing their right back Darmian at left back and the winger Valencia at right back and they were culpable for conceding an awful goal against Wolfsburg. Let´s see how they cope with pace, passing and movement of Alexis, Walcott and all.
And the third reason is that they are already feeling tired, according to their Spanish international Juan Mata, as reported by The Mirror. Their manager has been sticking largely with the same starting XI and Mata admitted that they were really feeling the pace towards the end of the game this week. With Wenger having rotated and with Arsenal having had an extra day of rest, will this be enough to give us a physical edge and will these three things help us to a vital victory over our EPL rivals?
About time we beat that bunch and oily Van Gaal in the league
COYG
we will only win when except to sit and just wait the moment we rush our offense for no reason we are finished lets see what manu.has to bring to us chelsea and manu will find this very hard because small teams have no intention of attackin them thats why they lose.
arsenal will dominate 90% of the game , scoring first. then we’ll let in a soft one from a corner. and then we’ll be going for it and get done on the counter.
The Biggest reason that united will be beaten is the combination of Alexis and wlacott. They reminds me of suaraz nd sturridge. Both are in good form and scoring goals. United are not playing good fotball and they can not stop us scoring.
Peter check will sort out things is the defense.
If refree does not favour united then Arsenal will win. Every player will put 110% as they are all under pressure.
Sunny
Ever since Ferguson retired I have always been optimist about beating utd but it only happened once, though we came inches close to victory other times as well.
With an out of form Valencia at right back and a make shift left back , we should definitely set our eyes on attacking through wings and thus start with ox on right and either drop Ramsey or ozil ( I would drop ozil).
Lets go top of the league!
I really like the OX and think he is a star in the making… but as of now, what is the point of using OX if he cannot score, lack final ball and dont want to defend?
Sure we should give him more game time, we can do that in other less important game against weaker opponents.
Because he’s a threat on the wing and he shoots when the chance comes up. Drop ozil
I dont think Wenger would drop Ramsey – He didn’t have a full game on Tues and his determination showed when he did come on…
Ozil is the unpredictable player – is tempting to drop him to the bench, but chances are he could do well against an attacking minded Man U team..
I cant recall the last time ozil ran the show against big times, do you?
No.lol…(being optimistic here)…the dude likes his MOTM awards for lower league teams…
Wenger Ox, Ozil,
Walcott Sanchez Cech.
Van Gaal Rooney, Martial,
Depay Mata De Gea.
Chance to top the table for both outfits.
Whoo hoo. Should be a cracker.
Reckon Arsenal are the more stable team
plus we need to win at home.
So yeah Arsenal to win by at least 2 🙂
I only need one reason – Sanchez
I feel like we have become a team that’s so unpredictable, We could loose 2-0 or win 5-2…but then again the PL has been like that this season – who would’ve tout Man C would loose 4-1 to Spuds…
1 big reason is : We tend to play better against teams that play attacking – like Leicester City.
All we need is luck and a good referee – We do lack that alot recently…How often has Sanchez hit the post, Ramsey’s disallowed goal vs Liverpool, Gabs unfair send off vs Chelsea…
Despite all that hard lucks, we still are only 3 points behind the table leaders… This should give us a hope of optimism….If City would have maintained that perfect record, then we would have accepted that, we are far away from title. But that didn’t turned out as expected.
Am not telling that we WILL SURELY win the league… But at least we have a chance of fighting for it.
Who knows Man City may drop form? Who knows someone will expose Man Utd’s defence? But one thing is sure, whatever happens to others, we have to maintain ourselves in best shape….
COYG
Oh shut up with that garbage. All we need is a good referee? Jesus Christ.
No what we need is proper organisation, a game plan, tactical flexibility, players defined by roles, players playing in their positions, and players who show some mettle. This nonsense we just need some luck and a good ref is pathetic. You make your luck, and the ‘bad ref’ remark is embarrassing to use half a dozen times in 10 games so far this season.
Put some accountability on the guys who actually have an input in our success week after week, and maybe you’ll pressure some change in fortune. I don’t care who the ref is, if Wenger and the squad turn up and do their roles we are far more likely to beat United at home. Simple.
Sense spoken at last!
Arsenal, born under a bad sign!
#curses!
Aint that obvious – The guys have to play well for us to have a chance of winning….But
there has been several games where we have been the better team on the day and still lost.
Not true. You’re just the type to say “We were the better team” as a way of softening the realisation we lost a game. Very, very rarely are we the better team and not win. 9 times out of 10 when we drop points it’s as a direct result of poor performance from us in terms of playing staff or management.
That’s the standard we’re at, we’re the underdog 2/3 times a year when we visit title rivals and other than that we’re the better team vs all others. With that being the state of things, it’s all about how WE prepare and perform. You and others have a disgusting habit of pointing at every external influence as a “reason” for failure. Long overdue that the finger of blame remains inside the Emirates.
My only worry that we are probably going to miss Kos the Boss due to hamstring. Gabriel is going to take the charge. But Per and Chambers performances make me doubt. Per a bit slow, and Chambers a bit clumsy. Both full backs especially Bellerin need to count their offensive mind carefully because they’ll face the speed of Martial. Our defensive awareness should be on top priority. With Alexis running his mojo we’ll beat ManUre. COYG!!!
“The first reason is Wayne Rooney, their captain and talisman”
You seem to forget Rooney relishes playing against Arsenal. He has said several times that United know how to beat Arsenal and he has been painfully proved right several times. Believe me, it’ll be a different Rooney on Sunday 😉
So will be a different Arsenal defence on Sunday as well.
Exactly what i said yesterday. Doesnt matter how bad Rooney is playing he always brings a goal to utd vs Arsenal
My line-up:
Bellerin Gab Kos(Chambers) Monreal
Ramsey Coq
Ox Cazorla Sanchez
Walcott
or :
Debuchy Gab Kos(Chambers) Monreal
Ramsey Coq
Bellerin Cazorla Sanchez
Walcott
I bet on Bellerin to make a really good winger, try that Wenger …
I get so much joy when MU gets beaten, and you can imagine the joy when AFC smash them …
Your 1st team look great to me…ozil to be benched…Guy is so damn overrated…can’t stand it anymore
Zagreb and Olym disaster down to underrating the opponents and came with the wrong attitude and complacency.
Tendency for Gunners for big game like Manure will surely different dimension.
Hopes the players will come up with the resiliency to get 3 points.
AW already gave hairdryer treatment right?
Thus, ain’t enough to beat man u, things does change and perhaps man united won their champions league game. So, unless, arsenal put in their best and play that match like its their final. Their I see arsenal bagging all three points.
Couldn’t agree more- I am amazed we are now thinking how well we are going to play and beat them HAHAHAHAH. I have 1 question for you all. Have you not seen how we are playing and who is our manager> HAHA
WENGER OUT!
Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United (Walcott 23, Sanchez 71)
Enough said!
It’s Man Utd and no matter how poorly they play or how out of form or tired their players are you just know that Shrek will score or play a blinder against us.
Unfortunately my confidence in Wenger and some of our players is at a season low. Every side can lose the odd game here and there but the manner in which we lost to Olympiakos is a massive worry for me.
I think that every side that plays us now will believe that they can win.
We do have a couple of plus points, Alexis and Walcott are in the goals again and Ramsey looked sharp when he came on in the week.
If I could play Wenger for the day and pick the side to play Utd I’d opt for:
Cech
Bellerin Mertesacker Gabriel Monreal
Ramsey Coquelin
Oxlade-Chamberlain Cazorla Alexis
Walcott
Ramsey and Cazorla could interchange depending on how the game is going, my concerns are that we’ll probably bang in another own goal just to add insult to injury. I also don’t believe that Mertesacker and Gabriel (or Chambers for that matter) will give us balance in the centre of defence and I’m not convinced that Coquelin was fit enough to play on Tuesday night, which means he may still be carrying a slight knock now.
I know we’re playing at home, but I just know that if we adopt Wenger’s usual open tactics we’ll get caught on the break by Utd, after all they have scored more counter attack goals against us over the years than I care to think about and with the likes of Mata, Rooney, Martial and Memphis I would urge caution in our approach.
Above everything I’d give ourselves the chance of winning the game by still being in it come the hour mark. An additional problem is that we don’t really have many options on the bench, should we need to score. Ozil and Giroud are the only offensive players we have fit who could change the game, hopefully Giroud has the same boots on as last seasons game against Utd (well the ones he scored with anyway) and if Ozil does play, we need him to have a great game, I think he does get unfairly criticised at times but if the fans can’t see him pulling the strings and creating chances then they might get on his back and his head could drop.
I’m hoping we can put in a great team performance, but we’ll only be able to do that if Wenger gets his tactics right against Van Gaal.
COYG!