4 players who must start for Arsenal vs Man Utd on Sunday

Arsenal have claimed seven points from their opening three Premier League games, yet anyone would think the Gunners have gone winless so far.

While some of the complaints from within the fanbase are valid, there’s certainly no need to panic despite Fulham salvaging a point with ten men at the Emirates last weekend.

However, the draw with the Cottagers should’ve nonetheless convinced Mikel Arteta of the need to change tack for Sunday’s duel with Man Utd. Something just isn’t quite clicking with Arsenal at the start of the new season, but a tactical reversion should see the Gunners return to a level we were familiar with in 2022/23.

4 players who must start for Arsenal vs Man Utd on Sunday

Arteta isn’t one to make wholesale changes to his starting XI, but he might have to on Sunday. Here are four players that must come back into the Arsenal team for United’s visit.

1. Oleksandr Zinchenko

A calf injury sustained at the end of last season meant Zinchenko missed the entire summer, and he’s only featured twice off the bench so far. However, he played over 40 minutes last weekend and is surely ready for a return to the starting XI.

Without the Ukrainian and Jurrien Timber, Arteta has utilised Thomas Partey in an inverted right-back role, but it simply hasn’t worked. While Partey has performed pretty well individually, the once deadly dynamic down the right with Ben White overlapping Bukayo Saka has been lost.

And against Fulham, left-back Jakub Kiwior rarely ventured down the left touchline which meant both wingers were isolated.

Should Zinchenko come back in, White should return to right-back and we’ll likely see last season’s fluent dynamics on full display. The inverted left-back is a key spoke in Arteta’s wheel. He makes everything tick.

Continued on the next slide…