Arsenal vs Manchester United: Francis Coquelin Has One Job

Arsenal face off against a battered Manchester United side, and with that batterings comes one clear missive for Francis Coquelin.

Forgive me for potentially jinxing this match, but the amount of ways that Manchester United can hurt Arsenal are massively limited. With no Zlatan, no Rooney, no Fellaini and a battered back line, Jose Mourinho’s hands are incredibly tied. His offense will be reliant on undersized youngsters, none of which particularly frighten me with this improved Gunner back line.

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Height won’t be an issue, with Zlatan and Fellaini both out and Smalling as well, meaning that if Arsenal want to start Giroud, they could dominate the airwaves.

The only potentially threatening presence – and I mean potentially – is Paul Pogba.

Setting aside all my personal grudges, I see what an opportunity this is for the young Frenchman. Everyone is out. Everyone. He is out there, on his own, trying to make things happen. Whatever United want to accomplish will likely go through him.

This should be a straightforward solution for Wenger. Pogba may be a diva and a livewire, but the potential he has to damage a team all on his own is always there, lurking.

That can be stifled by telling Francis Coquelin prior to the match that he has one mission – stick on Pogba like a backpack any time he enters your half of the pitch. This is Coquelin’s specialty and, against United, there doesn’t figure to be much need for Le Coq elsewhere. Not with what his team mates can feasibly handle.

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Whoever else works their way into the United midfield is not going to be much of an offensive threat, meaning that Xhaka and whoever tracks back from wide positions, will be able to deal with them just fine.

This figures to be a match that comes down to snuffing out the remaining threats that United do have – and those threats are severely limited. Koscielny and Mustafi have the athleticism to handle the back and the fullbacks are intelligent enough to close up shop as best they can.

If everyone does their job – which, granted, is never a given – there is no reason to think that shutting down Pogba is going to win the game. From there, all the Gunner’s have to do is score a couple goals and take three points away from the Theater of Dreams.

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This is a weakness that must be taken advantage of. Coquelin can play a major role in that.