We head to Manchester United on Sunday (4.30pm), looking to win back-to-back games at Old Trafford for the first time since 1979 and become the first team to win five-straight matches against the Red Devils in Premier League history.
Achieving both of those feats would be a feather in the cap of Mikel Arteta, who will take charge of his 200th game in the competition this weekend, and he couldn’t have wished for any better preparation for a clash against our old rivals following Tuesday’s 7-1 success against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday.
United were also in European action in midweek as they returned from Real Sociedad with a draw in the Europa League, which is Ruben Amorim’s only hope of salvaging something from a season of disarray with his side scrabbling around in the lower reaches of the table and exiting the FA Cup last weekend.
Season of woe
Having received public backing from the owners in the summer, reshaped his coaching team and spent £180 million on new players, Erik ten Hag was dismissed two months into the campaign having won just three of his first nine league fixtures, leaving United 14th in the table.
Four months later, that is exactly where they lie heading into this weekend, with Ruben Amorim struggling to turn his new side’s fortunes around. The former Sporting boss has lost half of his 16 league games so far and collected just 18 points from a possible 48. On course for their worst Premier League finish, United haven’t tasted successive league wins all season.
They did beat Ipswich Town 3-2 with 10 men in their last top-flight outing, but since then they were knocked out of the FA Cup on spot-kicks by Fulham last weekend, while a 1-1 draw was secured in Sociedad on Thursday in the last-16 of the Europa League - a competition that has seen the Red Devils undefeated in all nine matches and could provide Amorim with a slither of glory.
What the managers say
Arteta: "The manner of the way we [beat PSV] lifted everybody, but that is in the past unfortunately. It is about what we do today, the preparation for tomorrow and trying to replicate a great performance.
"Watching the game against Real Sociedad, it became very clear that [Man Utd] are very capable of putting a really strong performance in and beat you on the day. We know the difficulty of the match and that’s what we’re preparing for."
Amorim: "We need to survive Sunday. The team was so tired in the last 20 minutes [against Sociedad]. In the Premier League, every game is really important. In our moment, we need to win. It’s always a problem when we don’t win so we have to focus on everything at the same time.
"I think the biggest problem is to not have all of the players because people talk about our rotation - especially in Europe, we are changing all the time. It’s because of this that the Europa League is so much harder, in my opinion, than the Champions League. Not the games but the recovery to play Premier League on the weekend, so we have to deal with that.”
Team news
There are no new injury concerns for Arteta after everyone came through our midweek win unscathed. That means Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli remain out, as do long-term injury victims Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
Myles Lewis-Skelly completed his one-match ban following his red card against West Ham United last month and is available for domestic action again.
Harry Maguire and Manuel Ugarte missed the Socieded trip after picking up knocks against Fulham, giving Amorin even more headaches as he attempts to patch together a side, with January arrival Patrick Dorgu suspended following his red card against Ipswich.
Hot prospects Amad Diallo (ankle) and Kobbie Mainoo (calf) are out, while Mason Mount, Jonny Evans and Luke Shaw have been missing for the past few months, and it remains to be seen if they’ll be back this term. However, Lisandro Martinez is definitely out for the season after ACL surgery, while backup goalkeepers Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton are also in the treatment room.
TALKING TACTICS
Adrian Clarke: United have been habitual slow starters in recent months. Scoring just three first-half goals in their last 20 games in all competitions, we must try and push them onto the back foot right from kick-off. Recent history tells us they are much better in the second half.
Amorim’s side have struggled to create chances – they rank 17th for open-play goals – but they still have talented individuals who can turn matches with moments of brilliance. Bruno Fernandes and Alejandro Garnacho are the biggest threats.
If Fernandes is picked to play in central midfield, that would signal a positive tactical approach from Amorim. Should he start as one of the two No.10s with a double pivot behind him, it would indicate a more cautious gameplan.
We hurt them from dead balls in the reverse fixture, and only Wolves and Southampton have let in more goals from set plays than the Red Devils. It should be said that they are strong in those situations too, with more than a quarter of their goals stemming from dead balls.
Facts and stats
Manchester United have lost their last four Premier League games against us, their longest losing run against us in their history.
We have scored in each of our last 10 Premier League games at Old Trafford (13 goals), having only managed to score in 10 of their first 22 visits in the competition (11 goals).
United have won just one of their last eight top-flight home games against sides starting the day above them in the table (D1 L6), losing each of the last four in a row.
Since Ruben Amorim’s first game in charge, the Red Devils have conceded the first goal in 12 league games with no side going 1-0 down on more occasions during this period.
United are yet to win consecutive league games this season, this is their longest wait for back-to-back league victories since 1968/69 (games 32 and 33).
Mikel Arteta has won seven of his 10 Premier League games against Manchester United - of all managers to face the Red Devils at least five times in the competition, he has the highest win rate (70%).
Leandro Trossard scored our winner against Man Utd in this exact fixture last season – the only Arsenal players to score a Premier League goal at Old Trafford in consecutive campaigns are Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Emmanuel Adebayor.
Match officials
Anthony Taylor has been handed his fourth Gunners game this campaign, with his last outing seeing him award a hotly-disputed penalty to Brighton in our 1-1 draw with the Seagulls in January. That was one of nine he has awarded in 24 Premier League games this term, four more than any other official.
During our four-game winning streak over United, the Cheshire-based official has refereed two of them - the home wins in 2022/23 and 2023/24. It is the fifth time he will have overseen United this term, and they’ve beaten Manchester City and Fulham in their last two.
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn
Fourth official: Darren Bond
VAR: Paul Tierney
Assistant VAR: Tim Wood
Recent trips to Old Trafford
As we seek our back-to-back victories at the Theatre of Dreams for 46 years, our recent form there has seen us win two of our last four trips in the Premier League, as many as from our previous 22 visits.
Leandro Trossard grabbed the only goal of the game back in May 2024 to clinch a 1-0 success, but our previous visit in September 2022 saw us suffer a 3-1 defeat as Marcus Rashford scored twice and Anthony added a third to give the Red Devils victory.
The season before saw us edged out by a 3-2 scoreline as Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty secured a topsy-turvy win for the hosts, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's penalty clinched a win behind closed doors in November 2020. Indeed, all five of our Premier League wins at Old Trafford have come via a 1-0 scoreline.
Live coverage
Tune into Live From N5 just before kick-off to hear live commentary of the game provided by Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke, who will guide you through all the action if you’re out and about.
You can also find out which broadcasters are showing the action live wherever you are in the world.
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