Arsenal Vs Manchester United: Rest and rotation brings uncertainty

Jose Mourinho has stated that he is set to rest some Manchester United players against Arsenal, bringing uncertainty to the crucial tie.

The top four race is beginning to hot up. With Arsenal losing to Tottenham Hotspur in the North London derby, Liverpool squeezing past Watford on Monday night and both Manchester clubs dropping points against Middlesbrough and Swansea respectively, there is still a great uncertainty engulfing the competition for the Champions League qualification places.

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The Gunners currently sit five points behind Manchester United and six points behind Manchester City with one game in hand, and nine points behind Liverpool with two games in hand. If they harbour hopes of hauling themselves back into the top four by the end of the season, then they must win every game between now and then, starting with Sunday’s hosting of United.

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And Jose Mourinho is set to throw his old adversary, Arsene Wenger, a rather significant life line. After bemoaning his side’s fixture congestion for many weeks, Mourinho has admitted that he will have to rest and rotate some his star players, with Sunday’s game falling between the two-legged semi-final against Celta Vigo in the Europa League:

"“We are going to try. We are not going to Arsenal to say ‘beat us’ or ‘beat us 5-0 or 6-0.’ We are going there to fight for a result. But it’s impossible not to rest players. I cannot do it in another way. If Celta was playing with their best team, if Celta was fighting for important things in La Liga, we would go in the same circumstances. But I cannot now play with the same team that played at Celta. And then repeat it again next Thursday.”"

Mourinho is no stranger to prioritising one competition over another. He has always been willing to play a weakened team in the early rounds of the FA Cup and the EFL Cup in the hope keeping his players fresh for more important stages of the season, and is now set to do so late in the year.

And the decision to rest players will bring great uncertainty and doubt to Sunday’s game. Mourinho is notoriously unpredictable in his team selection, often turning to quite dramatic and extreme tactics to give his team the best chance of victory.

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It will be difficult for Wenger to prepare his team without a clear idea of how United will play. Although this esteemed fixture used to be title-deciding, there is still much to be excited for, primarily, the unpredictable set up of both teams.