Arsenal will face Manchester United at Old Trafford tomorrow under the guise of Michael Carrick, who will be in charge for only his third game as the boss.
The Red Devils decided to part ways with Ole Gunnar Solksjaer after the recent 4-1 loss to Watford, and the former England international has been in charge since.
Carrick is yet to taste defeat, guiding his side to a crucial 2-0 win over Villarreal to seal their qualification to the knockout rounds of the Champions League, before denying the league leaders Chelsea a win at Stamford Bridge at the weekend.
There was confusion in the run-up as to whether Ole’s successor Ralf Rangnick would be in place in time to face us, but delays with his visa are believed to have held that up, and we must now prepare to take on Carrick’s side.
Arteta insists that the above leaves him with some uncertainty as to how to expect United to play, but knows that the atmosphere at Old Trafford will bring a challenge in itself.
“You know what to expect when you got to that stadium and play in front of that crowd,” Arteta said ahead of his side’s clash with Man United as quoted on Arsenal.com. “They are a team, a squad that is one of the most talented in the league. You know the situation you are going to face. It is very difficult tactically because you don’t know how they are going to prepare the game, the options that they can play, the formation they can [have] so it’s focused more on ourselves, on what we have to do and make sure the team is prepared to go there and beat them.”
Even when United appear to be playing badly, they always seem to find a way to perform against us, especially at Old Trafford. It would be naive to believe that this is going to be an easy game in any shape or form, although they are definitely there for the taking.
If we play the way we have been, and raise our game to the challenge, they are very beatable, and Chelsea’s dire finishing let them off at the weekend. If they play the same tomorrow, I expect us to claim all three points, although it is never as cut-and-dry as that unfortunately.
Patrick
Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool rotate their players. Why does Arteta not do the same?He is over-using some players and when they get injured, the team looks helpless and vulnerable. Rotating the players provides for healthier competition.
Nketia wants to leave because he’s on the bench all the time. A game like New Castle would have provided the occasion for those players to get minutes.
it will be tough as usual. Our OT record is quite simply horrible. I fear this is a game that we will be crashing back down to reality with, or we will finally show we can achieve big things in the future. I’m always pessimistic about this fixture. OT always just seems to get the better of us and our performance dips. I just see Partey’s sloppy passing lately costing us this game. Can’t have that when Ronaldo is on the other end of the pitch. Same thing with Liverpool game applies. Some mistakes against the better sides will 100% punish you.
Very correct of Arteta in the fact that Arsenal must focus more on themselves and see how they can improvise to beat United. That said, OT is a difficult place to go specially given the fact we have not done well there in the recent past, but every game is different and I am quiet optimistic this time that Arsenal will beat united. We have to play to a plan and avoid sloppy errors, United is definitely beatable.