Manchester United might have been successful in removing some of the doubts their convincing win over Swansea City that has taken them to the international break on a winning note, but things could change soon as they face a very tricky fixture against Arsenal when Premier League returns next week.
Mourinho just cannot afford a slip up in this match considering his previous comments on Arsene Wenger. It will be a big embarrassment for the Portuguese. To add to his woes, United’s towering forward Zlatan Ibrahimović is suspended for the match.
United already have first team players like Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly, Antonio Valencia and Marouane Fellaini out with injury and losing Zlatan has just compounded his frustration. What this essentially does is, it eliminates a lot of the aerial threat and brute strength United would have had against the Gunners.
Having players like Fellaini, Zlatan and Bailly is like an assured presence in all the three positions of the field. Although Fellaini has been spineless this season losing the ball often, his physical presence could surely have made things easier in the midfield, which might be done a bit by Paul Pogba. Contrary to them, Arsenal have all their first team players available for the match. In the likes of Giroud and Koscielny, Arsenal also possess some aerial threat from set pieces.
However, one big weapon that Mourinho always had earlier when facing Arsenal was a striker who could bully Arsenal’s defence. This is precisely why he has a perfect record against Wenger. Whether it’s Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba or Diego Costa, he has always been successful in intimidating their back line.
And this is exactly what he will miss next Saturday. In Zlatan, Mourinho had the perfect bully for Wenger’s back line and missing him will be huge no matter how ineffective the Swede has been this season. The other options Mourinho has are Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford. Considering how well Martial has adopted on the wide, Rashford will be the likely one to take his position up front.
The United academy youngster has been a revelation since breaking into the first team last season. He has scored 13 goals and also bagged 3 assists in his 36 appearances for United. Among them are the two against Arsenal on his debut.
Rashford’s presence will provide the pace up front, which is one way to hurt the Gunners. Arsenal will pretty much dominate possession next weekend and with United playing on the counter, Rashford could find decent space to showcase his talents which earned him a senior first team place under Louis van Gaal last year.
While Mourinho will hope Rashford continues his form against Arsenal, the Gunners, who have become more organised at the back now with the arrival of Shkodran Mustafi, should not be much concerned with Rashford. With Koscielny in the form of his life, United seem hardly a threat with this forward line.
