Arsenal v Manchester United - Sunday, January 22, 16:00

Blatter

Arsenal team news:

Arsène Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of the Manchester United game:

on Thomas Vermaelen (calf)
At the moment I don’t think he will make it for Sunday. Let’s hope we have a good surprise. Let’s see how he develops. There may be a test. At the moment we just go day by day but he looks short.

on Thierry Henry (calf)…
He will have a test on Saturday. He has a calf problem.

on Mikel Arteta (calf)…
He has no chance. The earliest for him is Aston Villa.

on Bacary Sagna (ankle) and Kieran Gibbs (groin)...
Both of them are about two to three weeks away.

on Francis Coquelin (hamstring)…
He is three, four or five days away from full training. I did not see him on Thursday but he is not far away. He could be available for Aston Villa.

There is no official United team news as of yet, we will find out at Ferguson's presser in a few hours.I think Welbeck is a slight doubt. Smalling and Ferdinand have confirmed that they are fit. I've heard nothing on Phil Jones although I presume he's also fit. Cleverley and Young are still out.


Possible line ups: United

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Lindegaard

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Jones/Rafael/Smalling---Ferdinand---Evans/Smalling

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Evra
Valencia

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Carrick

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Giggs/Jones

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Nani

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Rooney

---

---

Welbeck

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There's a lot of scenarios with regards what team United could pick, I think it will be one of the above.(Unless Welbeck is injured, we'll probably play 4-3-3 in that case)



Arsenal

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Szczesny

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Djourou

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Mertesacker

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Koscielny

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Vermaelen/Miquel

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Song

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Rosicky

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Walcott

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Ramsey

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Arshavin

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van Persie

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Not sure what other team can field at the moment, lots of players missing. Whether Vermaelen plays or not will be key to their chances.

Mitch Connor

Going to be very interesting to see what Fergie does.

I imagine he would like to play Jones and Carrick in midfield, with Park and Valencia on the wings. That would, imo, leave a back four of Rio, Evra, Smalling and either Evans or Rafael (depending on the positioning of Smalling). Rooney and Welbeck up top, with Rooney dropping into midfield to help congest that area defensively, when without the ball.

While I think Park is likely, because he generally does well vs Arsenal and it is a fixture Fergie likes to play him in - Arsenals lack of full backs means they are really weak there - it is an area we could take advantage of and I think Nani is far more likely to do something in attack than Park.

Of course that would depend on the fitness of the players, and we have no luck with injuries so who know what will happen.

I feel we have to at least match City's result this weekend to continue mounting a title tilt. I reckon the City game could be a draw, just don't see them losing. If they do drop points though, I would hate for United to drop them also, thus missing a chance to close the gap.

Arteta is apparently ruled out of the game from an Arsenal perspective. Massive loss for them. No full backs, Wilshere still out and doubts over Henry. This game is there for the taking IF Fergie plays a team to win the game and IF we actually play the game (unlike the game at the backend of last season)

Frisbee

United to bag their usual several goal victory over Arsenal.

Arsenal to have 60% possession while United pick us off on the counter repeatedly. Valencia and Nani to sodomise Djourou and Miquel into quivering masses and Rooney to bag a brace.

MagicMarker

2-8

Blatter

I'd be very disappointed if Park played ahead of Nani, mainly due to Arsenal's woes at fullback as said above(Djourou will almost certainly be at RB) and Walcott isn't great defensively on the right hand side so Nani should get even more joy.

IMO, It would be crazy not to play him despite Park's record v Arsenal.

jaykay74

Frisbee wrote: »

United to bag their usual several goal victory over Arsenal.

You say that but in the corresponding fixture over the last 6 seasons Arsenal have 3 wins, 2 draw and 1 loss.

Noo

I've a very bad feeling about this

keano_afc

I dont think we'll have it as handy as we did in this fixture last season, 1-0 was very flattering to United I seem to remember, we really should have won by more.

Cant see us getting more than a draw though this time, we're all over the place at full back on both sides and if Nathan Dyer can have a field day against us, I dread to think what Nani and Valencia will do. That said, we should be able to get at them in midfield but Arteta missing out is a big loss.

Gonna say 1-1, but I'll be surprised if we get anything out of this one.

Jax Teller

Have a feeling Valencia will play Rb and Nani ahead of him at Rw .

Keeper
Val Smalling Rio Evra
Nani Jones Carrick Park Welbeck
Rooney

MagicMarker

Coletrickle88 wrote: »

Have a feeling Valencia will play Rb and Nani ahead of him at Rw .

Keeper
Val Smalling Rio Evra
Nani Jones Carrick Park Welbeck
Rooney

I can't see that happening unless Evans is injured tbh. Rio & Evans is our best CB partnership atm and Smalling is our best RB, defensively speaking at least. Plus with the form Valencia is in we'd be crazy to put him back there.

If we were to go 433/451 then I'd like to see...

Smalling - Rio - Evans - Evra

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Carrick

---

---

Jones

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Scholes --
--Val

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Nani

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Rooney

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Drexel

Bad bad feeling about this game from an Arsenal perspective. We've been brutal lately and UTD have just started improving from their bad run.

With Arteta and TV out we dont stand a chance. I just hope its a respectable scoreline

Pepe LeFrits

I don't think Arsenal's form is bad enough at the moment to win this.

Yeah.

kryogen

Be a close one, I do expect United to have too much as long as they actually turn up

Gonna go with a 1-2 away win

gosplan

Massive game for Arsenal. You can't expect three points against Utd but they're close to vital because of the results against Fulham and Swansea.

Come Monday, Arsenal could be 7 points behind Chelsea.

We're slowly losing touch with the top four and we're relying on injured players to pull us out of the fire whenever they come back.

Mitch Connor

fergie saying Smalling and Jones are fit, Anderson out - as far as I know Rio is fine (been training all week) so Cleverley, Anderson, Vidic, Owen, Young, Fletcher, Fabio and maybe Evans are the absentees from United.

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Lindegaard

Rafael-Smalling-Ferdinand-Evra

Valencia-Jones-Carrick-Nani

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Rooney

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Welbeck

Thats the team I would like to see.

Cantona's Collars

United's attack should give Arsenal serious problems,let Arsenal have more possession then pick them off.
I predict 3-1 to United with Arsenal's full backs to have a torrid time.

Mitch Connor

zerks wrote: »

United's attack should give Arsenal serious problems,let Arsenal have more possession then pick them off.
I predict 3-1 to United with Arsenal's full backs to have a torrid time.

United aren't great defensively either. the pace of Walcott and the sheer world class ability of RVP will cause problems, and a midfield likely including Ramsey, Rosicky and Song is very talented. While Arsenal do have defensive problems United should be able to exploit, they won't exactly be looking at our side and thinking 'how the hell are we going to break this down'.

Sure even look at the 8-2 game at OT, it could have finished 5 or 6 each, and it would have been a fair enough reflection of the game.

Giggsy11

Blatter wrote: »

I'd be very disappointed if Park played ahead of Nani, mainly due to Arsenal's woes at fullback as said above(Djourou will almost certainly be at RB) and Walcott isn't great defensively on the right hand side so Nani should get even more joy.

IMO, It would be crazy not to play him despite Park's record v Arsenal.

Exactly, I may be tempting fate but this is not the Arsenal of old who were much better in opening up defense and had very good ability to retain possession. They are missing few key players and would be disappointed to see Nani on the bench.

I would go with

De Gea/Lindegaard*

Rafael Smalling Rio Evra

Valencia Jones Carrick Nani

Rooney Welbeck**

* Doesn't matter who the GK is.
**If Welbeck is injured then Hernandez.

amiable

LaurensJulien Julien Laurens
So Arteta officially ruled out of the United game and Vermaelen probably as well too. Two massive blows. Henry will have a test on Sat #afc

Frisbee

It would be idiotic of Ferguson to play Park ahead of either Nani or Valencia considering we're going to have two not very good centre backs playing at full back and two don't realy give a shít about defending wingers ahead of them in Walcott and Arshavin.

gosplan

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Sure even look at the 8-2 game at OT, it could have finished 5 or 6 each, and it would have been a fair enough reflection of the game.

Very true. United, while deserving the win, really got lucky that day in the fact that they scored 8.

Now I'm not trying to get into a row, fair play United - great finishing and all but 2 free kicks from Rooney who can't score a penalty these days and two absolute peaches from Young.

cgpg5

Hopefully a good game, I'll go Arsenal 2-1

Nalz

Frisbee wrote: »

It would be idiotic of Ferguson to play Park ahead of either Nani or Valencia considering we're going to have two not very good centre backs playing at full back and two don't realy give a shít about defending wingers ahead of them in Walcott and Arshavin.

I hope he doesn't but Park always plays well against Arsenal!

Having said that I'll expect United to play this team:

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GK

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-Smalling

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Evans

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Rio

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Evra-

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-Valencia

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Jones

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Carrick

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Nani-

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Rooney

---

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Wellbeck

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Mitch Connor

gosplan wrote: »

Very true. United, while deserving the win, really got lucky that day in the fact that they scored 8.

Now I'm not trying to get into a row, fair play United - great finishing and all but 2 free kicks from Rooney who can't score a penalty these days and two absolute peaches from Young.

I agree - the goals United scored that day were blessed. With a bit more luck or slightly different placement from an Arsenal point of view and they could ahve had a number of goals themselves. De Gea made some great saves.

At the same time United could, and should have had a few more, we wasted some glorious opportunities, but it was a freak game if we are being honest - 8-2 was a fanstastic result for United, obviously, but it could have been anything really, and the arsenal lineup that day was shocking. It is in trouble injury wise now too, but not as bad as it was then.

Frisbee

Trilla wrote: »

I hope he doesn't but Park always plays well against Arsenal!

True, but Park tended to be a great choice against us when we had the tools to hurt you. I can't see this Arsenal team getting any sort of win considering the amount of injuries we have at the moment. Whereas the creativity of Valencia and Nani could tear us apart.

Crazy Horse 6

United to win by at least 3 clear goals. Arsenal lack steal i'm afraid for this sort of challange.

Blatter

8 players from the Arsenal team that played in the 8-2 at Old Trafford are expected to play at the weekend - plus Mertesacker, Miquel and Song.

Szczesny, Djourou, Koscielny, Rosicky, Ramsey, Walcott and van Persie all played in the 8-2.

Corvo

Jesus, I forgot Miquel is going to be full back.

What I wouldnt give to have Ronaldo still. Just for the comedy factor.

Cantona's Collars

Vermaelen is definitely out of the game,Wenger just confirmed it in todays press conference,source: SSN.

Cantona's Collars

Mitch Connor wrote: »

United aren't great defensively either. the pace of Walcott and the sheer world class ability of RVP will cause problems, and a midfield likely including Ramsey, Rosicky and Song is very talented. While Arsenal do have defensive problems United should be able to exploit, they won't exactly be looking at our side and thinking 'how the hell are we going to break this down'.

Sure even look at the 8-2 game at OT, it could have finished 5 or 6 each, and it would have been a fair enough reflection of the game.

True that Arsenal could have had 5 that day just as United could/should have scored 11.

Ramsey got played off the park by Swansea's midfield.Rosicky has been awful but Song is decent.

I'll still stand by my prediction.RVP will score but Arsenal have a kid at full back facing Valencia/Nani.Now Vermaelen is out.

Just something I saw on SSN. Rooney has scored 6 from 6 vs Arsenal & Henry has scored 7 from 8 vs United.

Wolf Club

As an Arsenal fan, I'm very pessimistic going into this one. Saying that, I was last year as well and was pleasantly surprised. Rooney will, no doubt, be firing on all cylinders in this one. Koscielny has improved greatly over the course of this season but this will be the greatest test he's had. Hopefully he'll rise to the challenge. Without Vermaelen and Arteta, though, it's hard to see us having enough strength in the middle to get a result here.

Noo

zerks wrote: »

Vermaelen is definitely out of the game,Wenger just confirmed it in todays press conference,source: SSN.

I thought with him and arteta in the team we might have a chance but its bleak now...bleak i tells ya!!

Rosicky should start, he can hold things together enough in midfield so that ramsey doesnt have another one of his "i must play every position" games.

Frisbee

At least Ramsey tries. As opposed to Theo 'hide behind the corner flag' Walcott.

Noo

Frisbee wrote: »

At least Ramsey tries. As opposed to Theo 'hide behind the corner flag' Walcott.

I know he does try and I really like that about him. But (i think i said in the arsenal thread) without someone in midfield to cover him against swansea he tried to hold the midfield together while trying to getting forward and getting in that cesc-esque pass. He took on too much and it was a bit of a disaster for him really.

steelcityblues

If Arsenal lose again, their season might go off the rails.

Blatter

zerks wrote: »

Vermaelen is definitely out of the game,Wenger just confirmed it in todays press conference,source: SSN.

Have a feeling Wenger is bluffing re Vermaelen. We'll see Sunday.

Noo

Blatter wrote: »

Have a feeling Wenger is bluffing re Vermaelen. We'll see Sunday.

I've been clinging to this thought, firstly he said he didnt think so but was hoping for a surprise. Now hes saying no even though theres still two days, i was under the impression that it'd be a late fitness test sunday and not a definite decision today. To straws I am a clutching!

homerjay2005

mike dean is reffing this game, thats worth a goal or two to arsenal..

Blatter

Noo wrote: »

I've been clinging to this thought, firstly he said he didnt think so but was hoping for a surprise. Now hes saying no even though theres still two days, i was under the impression that it'd be a late fitness test sunday and not a definite decision today. To straws I am a clutching!

What he said today in the presser: ''Vermaelen will still be short...''

Now, Sky and other media outlets are running with ''Wenger confirming Vermaelen absence'' from that quote, which they are entitled to do, but that, and his previous quote on the Arsenal website from this morning all sounds a bit too cryptic to me.

parc

Mike Dean is a terrible referee

amiable

parc wrote: »

Mike Dean is a terrible referee

He always does well when in charge of Liverpool games





He can't ref Liverpool I know

Pepe LeFrits

I don't think Vermaelen has been particularly great at left back anyway personally.

Song in the middle in particular should at least keep it respectable. United scored 5 after Wenger took Coquelin off at OT.

Samich

Looking forward to this game, could be goals galore once again for both sides.

Blatter

Blatter wrote: »

Have a feeling Wenger is bluffing re Vermaelen. We'll see Sunday.

Apparently Vermaelen trained today, he'll probably start as I thought.

Wenger would want to brush up on his bluffing technique, he's no SAF.

Noo

Reports saying he passed a fitness test and will be available to play. Absolutely massive boost for arsenal if this still holds true by tomorrow afternoon. Mentally the rest of the team need him there.

straw clutching may pay off after all

Professional Griefer

Can't wait for this. Reckon we'll win easily enough, not often I say that against a top team, but I feel very confident this time.

Should be a fantastic match.

Leiva

I can see UTD doing Liverpool and other top4 challengers a favour , but I can't see Spurs doing UTD any .

greendom

homerjay2005 wrote: »

mike dean is reffing this game, thats worth a goal or two to arsenal..

You are joking ? In the last 10 matches that Dean has reffed between the 2 sides Arsenal have drawn 5 and lost 5. He's worth a goal or 2 to United, surely

Not looking forward to this at all. If we keep the score respectable, at least that'll be something. Hope Henry comes of the bench for it.

patrickc

Here in London and going to match. But am so nervous. I just hope we don't get anialated.cmon the gunners

amacachi

First yellow card for each team at the same time looks good value at 17.5 depending on how they define "same time". Can't get a price on VP to get sent off, worth a punt if the price is right.