Manchester United will entertain Arsenal at Old Trafford on Wednesday night hoping to return to winning ways after their lacklustre display against Southampton last weekend earned them only a draw. Meanwhile, the Gunners come into this clash at the back of a 4-2 hammering of their local rivals, Tottenham Hotspur. The Gunners should be confident about replicating a similar kind of display against the Red Devils this week.
Jose Mourinho is expected to line up his United team in a 4-3-3 formation to counter Unai Emery’s 3-4-1-2 formation for the away side. This has the makings of a great Premier League contest as long as the two managers opt to go all out for the win.
Team News
Manchester United
Ashley Young will miss out on this match due to suspension while the likes of Eric Bailly, Matteo Darmian, Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling would be in a race against time to be fit for this league clash at Old Trafford.
Victor Lindelof and Alexis Sanchez will definitely not play any part on Wednesday night due to injury.
Arsenal
Mesut Ozil is a major doubt for this encounter as he is still recovering from his back problem. Emery will be without the services of Granit Xhaka who is suspended for this match while both Danny Welbeck and Konstantinos Mavropanos are sidelined due to long-term injuries.
Nacho Monreal and Laurent Koscielny are also unlikely to feature against the Red Devils this week, but they are both inching closer to a first-team return from their respective injuries.
Predicted Lineups
Manchester United
David De Gea; Diogo Dalot, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Luke Shaw; Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba; Jesse Lingard, Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial
Arsenal
Bernd Leno; Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Rob Holding; Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira, Mattéo Guendouzi, Sead Kolasinac; Aaron Ramsey, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette
Key Men
Manchester United
Both Lukaku and Martial needs to have a good game if United are to trouble the Gunners defence in midweek. The performance of Smalling and Jones will also be crucial as they will be up against one of the most lethal frontmen in Europe in Aubameyang.
Arsenal
The front pairing of Lacazette and Aubameyang needs to work together so that they can pose all sorts of problems for the Red Devils defenders. Guendouzi will also need to step up in the absence of Granit Xhaka so it would be interesting to see whether the French youngster can cope up with the pressure of playing in such a game of high magnitude.
Odds
Manchester United win – 29/20
Draw – 5/2
Arsenal win – Evens
