Match Preview: Arsenal vs. Manchester United
Manchester United face league leaders Arsenal this Sunday, following our derby victory last time out.
Michael Carrick couldn’t have hoped for a better way to kick off his tenure than an assured victory over our crosstown rivals, but he now faces another stern test at the Gunners.
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A result here could see us move into the top four, depending on how Liverpool perform against Bournemouth in Saturday afternoon’s kick-off, but in Mikel Arteta’s side we face opposition who are yet to lose at home this season.
There’s no denying that we face a formidable opponent this weekend, with the Gunners having lost just two games in all competitions so far this season, none of which were at home.
The Reds, however, arrive with just one defeat in our last 10 Premier League outings, and will likely be buoyed by the resounding victory against City in Carrick’s first game of this period.
The Emirates have been a difficult ground for us in recent times, but our notable triumph was our FA Cup victory just over a year ago.
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Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring just over 10 minutes before Gabriel leveled the match, with a Diogo Dalot sending-off sandwiched between the two. It looked like the tie was slipping away from us when Martin Odegaard stepped up to take a penalty in the 70th minute, but Altay Bayindir saved it and the match went to a penalty shootout, where the Turkish gloveman denied Kai Havertz to send us through to the next round.
Noussair Mazraoui is now back in Manchester after being narrowly beaten by Morocco in the Africa Cup of Nations final by Senegal.
Whether the defender is ready for action this weekend after a hectic month remains to be seen – that could be something Carrick takes stock of during his pre-match press briefing with journalists at Carrington on Friday afternoon (1:30 p.m. GMT).
Joshua Zirkzee and Matthijs de Ligt were the only two players to miss last weekend’s derby due to injury and, as above, further information may be provided by our head coach at his press conference.
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Academy graduate Shea Lacey will be available for this one, having served his one-match suspension for picking up two yellow cards in the FA Cup against Brighton & Hove Albion.
For the hosts, Piero Hincapie, Riccardo Calafiori and youngster Max Dowman have been sidelined due to injury, but as with Carrick, Arteta could give us more information during his press meetings before the match.