Manchester United’s players and manager face the firing line again on Wednesday as the Gunners come to Old Trafford in confident mood.
Arsenal’s barnstorming win in the north London derby against Tottenham on Sunday kept their superb unbeaten run going, and was also a first major victory for new coach Unai Emery. A day earlier, United were getting that sinking feeling against Saints as they could only manage a 2-2 come-from-behind draw at struggling Southampton.
Here, we look at three talking points ahead of the game:
EXPECT ANOTHER JEKYLL AND HYDE UNITED PERFORMANCE
They’re in the midst of their worst start to a season in 28 years and there has been an increasingly poisonous atmosphere hanging over Old Trafford – so it’s easy to forget United have, at times this term, been pretty impressive.
A gritty 2-1 taming of Juventus in Turin, a swashbuckling swathe of attacking football that rescued a 3-2 win against Newcastle after going 2-0 behind and a 2-2 draw at Chelsea that really should have yielded three points.
Of course, these have tended to go hand-in-hand with results that reduce United fans to the face palm emoji – defeat to Derby in the League Cup, being picked apart like a cast-off chip packet by a Seagull on the pier at Brighton and the gutless 3-1 hammering at West Ham.
There was both much to admire and despise in the 2-2 draw at Southampton on Saturday. A stirring fightback from 2-0 down was tempered by the fact they had pulled it back to 2-2 by half-time, yet could not and never looked like finding a winner in the second half.
They were also playing a home side without a genuine victory in three months (October’s League Cup triumph against Everton was on penalties after the game ended 1-1).
What type of performance are fans in store for on Wednesday? They probably shudder to think about which version of their side is going to show up.
EMERY ON A ROLL WITH FIRST BIG WIN
His side are on a scintillating 19-game unbeaten run so it’s hard to find fault with either Emery or his Arsenal side – but up until the weekend their impressive start to life under the Spaniard had failed to yield a win over a big team.
The superb run has been collated since back-to-back defeats to open the Premier League season against champions Manchester City and then at Chelsea. A 1-1 draw was earned at Anfield – where the visitors dominated for spells – but a major scalp has eluded them.
And scalps don’t come more coveted than a victory over despised rivals, especially having trailed 2-1, with victory seeing the Gunners go above Spurs at the weekend.
So the already rolling Emery bandwagon now has its first major win, with United next in the firing line. It’s almost a little flattering to give United big team billing these days, such is the malaise setting in under Jose Mourinho.
But they do remain dangerous on their day, with a star-studded line-up to boast of, at least on paper.
And whether they’re in poor form or not, victory at Old Trafford would provide another fillip to Arsenal’s top-four, or even title, ambitions, while fans would take delight in Mourinho potentially being edged close towards the Old Trafford exit door.
TOP FOUR FAR AWAY?
Sir Alex Ferguson oversaw plenty of abject starts to Premier League seasons during his time as United manager. He inevitably knew the silverware was handed out at the end of the season, not the start, with the stoic Scot banking on his side inevitably coming good when the business end of the season began in the New Year.
With that in mind, an eight-point gap to the top four doesn’t immediately seem hazardous to United. What is, however, is the fact this is not a United side cast in the mould of Ferguson’s hands.
United have not been that gritty and glorious version of themselves for quite a number of years. This version is brittle and boring, and an eight-point gap – which could become 11 should Arsenal win on Wednesday – already seems insurmountable.
Mourinho was bizarrely forced to address comments made to Brazilian TV following the Southampton draw that he believed his side would need a “miracle” to earn a spot in the top four come the end of the season in his pre-match press conference.
“I don’t know if I said (that) or if I didn’t. But if I used that word (miracle), it is not what I feel at all,” the beleaguered Red Devils boss said on Tuesday.
Whether he was backtracking or not, the form of the six sides above his should worry the manager.
