Morning all.
Arsenal take on Manchester Utd this afternoon in what has been described as being a potential mouthwatering clash between two clubs who have lifted the FA Cup more times than most. Arsenal, more than any other club with Utd just one behind.
I’m far from convinced the match will be a mouthwatering affair though as neither team are in the best of form. Utd put in a very good performance at Anfield last weekend apparently but whether they can repeat it remains to be seen. Hopefully, they cannot and will not.
As far as team news goes:
Arsenal: Ethan Nwaneri, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White and Bukayo Saka all miss out through injury.
Man Utd: Rashford, Mount, Lindelof and Shaw are expected to be out.
Amorim has already confirmed that Bayindir will be in goal for this game instead of Onana.
Adrian Clarke, writing in the matchday programme:
Amorim loves the 3-4-2-1 formation, and after a much-improved performance against Liverpool, it would be a surprise if there were any major tactical changes. They were more abrasive in that game with both central midfielders regularly winning the ball back, and one of their three centre-backs regularly squeezed up to physically engage inside the engine room. United are good ball-winners – no Premier League team has won more tackles or made more interceptions.
They will look to use the smart movement of Rasmus Hojlund, as their sole striker, he is always on the move trying to curve his runs beyond the last defender, so through balls must be stopped at source, while Amad Diallo has delivered five goals and six assists across his last 14 appearances, usually playing as one of their twin No .10s.
Having leaked two goals from set pieces on their last visit to Emirates Stadium, they will be nervous every time we send a dead ball delivery into the danger zone. Defending crosses in general has been an issue, with nine headed goals finding their way into the back of the net, the second-highest tally in the top-flight.
As the old saying goes, form goes out the window when the FA Cup comes along and we have certainly played our part in that. Who would have thought that in the season Mikel Arteta took the Arsenal manager’s job, we go on to beat Man City and then Chelsea to lift the big Cup? Likewise, who have foreseen us struggle to beat Hull City in the 2014 final? From 2-0 down though, Aaron Ramsey scored our winner in the dying moments of the game. Arteta was part of the team back then.
Going back even further, we’ve been on the receiving end of a few surprising results but I’ll leave those in the past.
I have no idea what to expect from Amorim’s Utd as I’ve not seen them play although anything written about them has been extremely negative.
More important than Utd though is how Arsenal play. Play like we did against Newcastle in the league cup, and we could be in trouble. I know Adrian Clarke wrote about Utd struggles defending set-pieces but our own attacking set-pieces have not been the best of late either, certainly not when it comes to turning them into goals. I say that, but not scoring goals in general has been a problem. I’d go as far as to say our attacking game in general is a dull as ditchwater.
This is a big week for Arsenal, Man Utd today, Totts on Wednesday and Aston Villa at the weekend. One is no more important than the other two but rotation, albeit the options are limited, will surely come in today. Sterling is fit so why not start him, Jorginho and Tierney too. Kiwior is another option as is Zinchenko. Neto could make his first team debut today too.
We’ll see soon enough…
Catch up in the comments.
Today is an indicator of just how confident the club is about our league challenge . Unlike the rest of our peers we don’t get the ability to rest our players due the hot and cold balls and the vagaries of the draw.
Whether or not United are in form we know that we are a lift themselves team and that they will be up for it .
We are already looking at going out of one cup , so dropping out of this and a couple of poor results to follow and the season is about qualification for next year and effectively over by the end of January.
Agreed, Utd couldn’t be a tougher test really. They’ll be well up for this one, probably like they were for Liverpool.
Morning Rico and all.
fingers crossed for tonights match, but not over confident.
Morning Geoff. I’m never confident 😂
Good morning Rico and all.
Starting Sterling on the right makes sense as it would allow Martinelli to move to his preferred slot on the left and Havertz to play in the middle. Due to his injury history I fear that a little later today we will hear that he has damaged a hamstring getting out of bed, so Nwaneri it is.
Morning Cicero.
Nwaneri is out injured. If Sterling doesn’t feature in this game then send him back to Chelsea and loan a different player who might actually contribute to the team. What an absolute waste of money Sterling has been so far.