In the last three seasons, United have played Arsenal on seven occasions. United have won three, Arsenal have won two, and we’ve drawn two. In those games, Arsenal have had five different goalscorers, scoring a total of six goals. How many of them will be in the team on Saturday?
The way it’s looking, just one, Cesc Fabregas. Emmanuel Adebayor has been ruled out for three weeks, William Gallas is very doubtful, Robin Van Persie is suspended after going psycho at Stoke and Thierry Henry is in sunny Spain.
To add insult to injury, Theo Walcott is likely to be missing as well, after picking up a shoulder injury against Stoke, with Wenger claiming he could be out of action for weeks.
Some Arsenal players are still kidding themselves with title aspirations and whilst I concede titles aren’t won in October, they can certainly be lost. With Arsenal still to play any of the other top four teams, United will have played Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all away from home come this Saturday. There is no doubt that their players will want to beat the Champions of England and Europe, but the question remains whether they have enough fight for it.
The lacklustre performances against Stoke, Tottenham, Hull, Sunderland and Fulham are not acceptable from title chasers. If they can’t get three points against these sides, then what is there to suggest they’ll have the grit and determination against the top sides?
The fact that Arsenal are without their goalscorers should mean we’re in for an easy time at the Emirates. But of course, you can never predict the outcome of an Arsenal vs United game!
