Match Day Thread Manchester United vs Arsenal - Matchday Thread

please log in to view this image

Venue: Old Trafford
Date: Wednesday 5th December
KO time: 8pm


Overall Record:
All: 227
Wins: 82
Draws: 47
Lost: 98


Last 6 meetings:

Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 1-3 Manchester United
Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United
Manchester United 1-1 Arsenal
Manchester United 3-2 Arsenal
Arsenal 3-0 Manchester United

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

Team News:
​

Manchester United are short of defensive options, and will hope Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly recover from respective foot and back problems.

Ashley Young serves a one-game suspension, Phil Jones is reportedly nursing an ankle injury, and both Luke Shaw and Romelu Lukaku were forced off with knocks on Saturday.

Arsenal's Granit Xhaka is suspended after accumulating five yellow cards.

Playmaker Mesut Ozil is unlikely to feature because of back spasms.

 

We are capable of going there and smashing them but I think its going to be a tough game.

Xhaka is a big miss - he's been on his best run of form lately and has been gelling well with Torreira. I expect Guendouzi will come in for him.

Be Interesting to see if Aubameyang starts up front ot on the left.

Hopefully we can take that momentum from Sundays game and go get the 3pts. COYG

 

It's an away game. Against a Mourinho side. At Old Trafford. Anyone expecting anything other than a dogfight might be sorely mistaken. Maybe its many years of underacheivement but under Wenger we would have gone to Old Trafford on a stunning run of form and gotten turned over by the Mancs, no matter what kind of form they were in. Makes me uneasy for tonight. Could this be the end of our winning run?

 

Is three games a 'run'?

 

ARSENAL: Leno, Bellerin, Sokratis, Mustafi, Holding, Kolasinac, Guendouzi, Torreira, Ramsey, Iwobi, Aubameyang

Subs: Cech, Elneny, Mkhitaryan, Lacazette, Lichtsteiner, Maitland-Niles, Nketiah


MAN UTD

De Gea, Darmian, Bailly, Rojo, Smalling, Dalot, Herrera, Matic, Martial, Lingard, Rashford

Subs: Romero, Pogba, Mata, Lukaku, Valencia, Fellaini, McTominay


Interesting Lineup. Aubameyang starting at CF with Lacazette on the bench.

 

Finding this match really hard to predict tonight, I think the first 20 minutes will be vitally important.

 

Gave away a soft goal. Not good enough. United kicking us all over the park. Rojo could have been sent off. 1-1 HT.

 

Weird half.

United have been soo ****ing dirty!

Ramsey looks injured. Bring On Lacazette for him.

 

Iwobi and Holding were like rabbits in headlights for their goal.

 

Another major f-----g arsenal defensive cock up.

 

Unacceptable to concede 75 seconds after bringing it back to 2-1. What was Kolasinac thinking?

 

Good point. United made life difficult for us tonight.

 

Meh.

We were the better side. Should have won this IMO.
Looked a little tired physically today and still put in a good shift.

 

If you'd said before the Spurs and United games that we'd take 4 points from them, I'd have definitely taken that.

We dominated possession and had the better quality of chances.
How often have we said that when going to OT?

Mourinho may well be underperforming with that squad, but they've still got some very good players. De Gea, Bailly, Rojo, Pogba, Rashford, Martial, Mata etc are quality. They do lack cohesion and fluency going forward though, particularly when you look at how many misplaced passes and wayward crosses in the final third they had.

I was a pissed that we conceded literally just over a minute after taking the lead. It was just a long punt forward and Kolasinac/Leno miscommunicated, which led to Lingard stepping in and slotting it home.

There's a serious amount of work needed to fix this defence because we could have won this, if we had defenders who were a bit smarter.

When you put it into context and consider how much energy we put into the NLD, as well as the injuries we suffered during this game, mixed with our atrocious record at Old Trafford, we've not done too badly.

We've already got more points against United this season than we did home or away last season. So clear progress on that front.

 

That's 20 games unbeaten now. 15 wins and 5 draws (I think?)

 

Yup, that's right.

I've seen some Arsenal fans say they're bemused by the result. I can understand why considering how poor United are right now, but again, to reiterate; we'd just had an energy sapping display against our north London rivals, we had several injuries during the course of this game and we have a terrible record at Old Trafford.

And even in spite of all of that, that performance was still way better than any performance we've had at Old Trafford in the last 12 years.

Herrera was offside for Martial's equaliser and Rojo should have been sent off for a horrid tackle on Guendouzi. On another day, we could have won this game.

As you say, 20 unbeaten - let's just keep the momentum going.

 

a point at old trafford is never a bad result - no matter the case.

Yes I would have liked to win, and yes it was unfortunate we conceded 75 seconds after scoring the second, but Ill take the draw.

hopefully the players that were injured are not out for very long.

I will say that while I liked seeing us go and try to win the game, we were FAR too open in the last 20 minutes or so. I could have easily seen United scoring a winner, especially since they had most of their first string players on. This is worrisome because its what Wenger was chastised for in the last 10ish years. Ill trust Emery for now because he has done a great job, but I would like to see us work on our game management.

 

Thought it was the most confident we have played at Old Trafford in years. Even though we didn't get the result, it wouldn't have been undeserved if we did. But our defence needs to improve.

 

Dont think it would be undeserved. Think we were the better side.

Just a bit careless on both ends of the pitch.

 

Sloppy defending from both teams, but De Gea kept them in it at the end. Bit disappointed not to take all 3 pts really, but a point at OT is never a bad result. I said before the Spurs and Utd games that I'd be happy with 2pts from, and we've come away with 4pts. So I'll take that. We're moving in the right direction and steadily improving. Emery needs to get a hold on this defence though and stamp out the silly mistakes.

Huddersfield at home up next. That's a definite 3 points we should be taking there.