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?