Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal’s Best Possible Starting Squad to Face Manchester United

By Josh Sippie

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Arsenal have a big rebound against Manchester United this coming Sunday. The Reds still have an outside chance of surpassing the Gunners and forcing them into the recently Arsenal-typified finish of fourth place, where they’d have to fight through a playoff to get into the Champions League yet again.

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While the difference between second and third place isn’t the biggest difference on the surface, third and fourth place is.

Even beyond that, though, Arsenal should still be gunning for second place. After an atrocious beginning to the season, Arsenal have become the best team in this calendar year through dominance and consistency, two things that Arsenal find in bursts, but never in elongated streaks.

This is a huge game. Arsenal are fresh off their first loss since February, they’ve finally gotten to a place where they’re being called title contenders and it’s time for them to reassert their dominance against a ‘top-tier team’ and remind the world that what they’ve been seeing for the past few months isn’t a fluke, it’s the real deal.

Second place would be a huge moral victory in the same token that fourth place would be a huge moral defeat. Third place is the middle ground that’s in the indifference zone.

Given the stakes, expect Arsene Wenger to stick to his guns. While I’d still like to see certain players breaking into the starting XI (as you’ll see in this list), I wouldn’t expect too many changes. Wenger is a traditional man, when something works, its success isn’t going to be disrupted by a single hiccup.

And so, without further ado, here are the best possible starting XI to employ against Manchester United.

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