Liverpool at home and Dortmund away, 2 games Arsenal were expected to lose by everybody outside the club. Yet it appears we have answered on the pitch brushing aside Liverpool and their beloved ‘SAS’ with relative ease and then travelling to Dortmund and holding out for a historic 1-0 win.
Next up? A trip to the ground Arsenal last avoided defeat at in the 08/09 season when United only needed a point to win the title, which they did. Old Trafford has been our worst venue to visit in the league without question, losing our last 4 visits conceding 13 and scoring 4 in reply. This is something we must remember before thinking we will go there and brush them aside, even though we are more than capable of doing so.
This will be our 3rd game in 8 days against top teams and we can expect essentially another unchanged team selection so it is highly likely that we could start fading towards the end of the game with players like Ozil, Giroud, Arteta, Koscielny and Mertesacker almost certain to play 90 minutes every game at the moment due to injuries. United have also had an extra day to recover and prepare as they played on Tuesday, but West Brom proved that can mean nothing by beating them 2-1 despite taking us to extra time and penalties 3 days earlier. Football matches normally end positively for the teams that give the most and this was a perfect example.
If we can overcome the physical barrier of 3 games in 8 days and play as we have recently then I think there is only 1 other factor that could stop us winning, United’s strike partnership. Rooney must have been bullied by Arsenal fans in school because he really does hate us and scores against us almost every time the teams meet. Then there’s the ageing, injury prone, inconsistent Dutchman we carried for 7 years through injury then watched walk away when we needed him most. Van Persie and Rooney for me are the 2 biggest threats I feel United will pose to our goal, unless Anderson has his good 1 game a season when we play as usual.
A lot of goals we concede against big teams usually come from the wide areas and normally I would be fearful coming into a United match, but Gibbs and Sagna are playing brilliantly at the moment and even if they get beaten or fail to stop a cross we have one of the best centre back partnerships in the league to mop up. United’s wide threat may also be lacking on Saturday with Rafael possibly injured and Evra playing through injury against Fulham. The wide player we must all be fearful of is Ashley Young, but not because of his talent or ability. We must be fearful because he will undoubtedly attempt to dive, feign injury or draw silly fouls that might lead to even more decisions going United’s way. I find it a disgrace his repetitive and proven attempts of cheating are laughed off by match of the day pundits and ignored by the media. Eduardo, who had his leg snapped by not avoiding a tackle, dived once and was banned by UEFA and target for months by the media. We then went on the get around 5 penalties in the next 2 seasons because of a reputation the media gave him.
The key to beating United for me will be for us to do exactly what we did against Liverpool. We need to dominate the ball and isolate their strikers. I fear Rooney anywhere near the edge of the box, I don’t fear him when he’s dropping off to nip at Arteta when we have the ball so we need to make sure we have the ball and get them moving around to unnatural positions. Obviously possession isn’t going to win us the game, we need to create and score chances and assuming we play the same 11 players this should not be a problem.
Overall, I feel that we do need to show United due respect as they are the current champions. This will not be an easy game at all, United away is still United away and they will be wanting to prove themselves against Arsenal (That felt good to type). On the other hand, once we walk out of that tunnel we need to show them absolutely no fear just as every team going to Old Trafford has this season. We need to make a statement that we are back and what better way than by going to Old Trafford and getting a result?
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Photo by Kieran Clarke