Arsenal Must Look Forward To Manchester United

Arsenal may have been sideswiped in the Champions League, but their match against Manchester United is just as crucial in the context of the Premier League.

In the Emirates stadium this past Tuesday night, the atmosphere was electric for the vast majority of the match. The home fans were expecting a big moment for Arsenal football club, and it was visible that the players reacted positively to it.

After multiple big saves from Marc-André Ter Stegen, the door looked like it was slowly, but surely, cracking open for the Gunners to nick a goal. However, one defensive lapse in midfield opened the door for Barcelona to launch a counter attack, and a team of the Catalans’ quality does not need many opportunities before they take one.

Assuming Elneny is being highly rated because of performances in Europe rather than in the Swiss league, why on earth can he not get a game when Wenger has just paid millions of pounds to bring him to the Emirates?

Moving on to the upcoming match against Manchester United, which is equally as important as their most recent game was, Arsenal cannot fold and present no attacking threat with their ball possession like they did against Hull City.

The performance over ninety minutes against the current treble champions may not have been the result fans wanted, but there’s no denying that Arsenal gave a bigger team a great game for fifty or sixty minutes. Granted, Manchester United are Premier League opposition and play a different style of football, but the optimism should for no reason be absent from the star players.

Last time out against Manchester United, Arsene Wenger set his team out with perfect tactics and the Gunners willingly conceded a vast amount of possession while still smashing three goals past David De Gea. Star players Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil were both very up for that game, and they created so many opportunities on the break against the Red Devils’ defenders.

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While Manchester United might create a boring game in front of their home fans as they have all season, Arsenal can afford to pick their opportunities in attack and sit back, waiting to intercept the ball.

Ozil and Sanchez are in different patches of form than they were when the first fixture in this tie happened, but they will be galvanized if their teammates are ready to prove a point against Manchester United and play a disciplined game.

The reason the Gunners ended up with a poor result against Barcelona was defensive mistakes. Mistakes at the back always have a ripple effect on teams’ body language. Manchester United play a less fluid game than the Azulgrana which should give Arsenal more of an opportunity.

If the Gunners cut out those mistakes, they know how to beat Louis Van Gaal’s Manchester United. Other teams do as well, and it seems unlikely Arsene Wenger will lay out a very changed team from the most recent match these two teams played.

With the confidence that came with winning the first leg of this game comfortably, Arsenal stand a very good chance of earning a great result. If they let themselves get down, however – though we won’t talk about that just yet – we could be in for a different game.