Next Saturday, 22nd of November 2014, a fragile Arsenal will entertain a fairly inconsistent Manchester United at the beautiful Emirates Stadium for round 12 of the English Premier League, a match of the utmost importance for both teams given the particularly less impressive moment they are currently experiencing.

Arsenal’s second highest shareholder claimed, back in the beginning of the current season, that this was the start of a new era for the Gunners and that the team’s trophy drought was a thing of the past, but apparently he figured it out all wrong.

Arsenal are currently on the sixth place of the table, 12 points behind the league leaders, Chelsea, and the football they have been displaying is far from being impressive. After a midweek unbelievable 3-3 home draw against Anderlecht for the UEFA Champions League (on the 58th minute, the Gunners were leading by 3-0), Arsenal didn’t manage to get anything better than a compromising defeat from their visit to Wales to face Swansea. The Gunners lost their match by 2-1 after being on the lead once again until the 75th minute.

Something is very wrong with the London team and supporters are definitely losing their nearly infinite patience with Arsene Wenger. The French manager arrived at Arsenal back in 1996 but his long stewardship at the helm of the Gunners might be close to an abrupt end, given his team’s poor performances and results so far this season.

Over the weekend, Arsenal will measure forces with Manchester United and if they fail to win once again, Wenger’s delicate situation will certainly become even more dangerous.  For that particular clash, the French manager will probably still not be able to rely on the contribution of Debuchy, Ozil, Koscielny and Ospina, all currently sidelined due to injury.

As for Manchester United, their reality isn’t any better. With just 16 points from 11 matches, the Red Devils are currently on the seventh place of table, one point behind their upcoming opponents, Arsenal, and 13 points behind José Mourinho’s Blues.

Their new boss, Louis Van Gaal, is not having an easy life at Old Trafford, and there are already some people claiming that he is no better than David Moyes, who was sacked last season due to the team’s underachieving performances and bad results.

After three matches without a single win, Manchester United have finally granted the three points two weeks ago, when they entertained Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, but once again their display left something to be desired. Juan Mata netted in United’s only goal of the match in the second-half and sealed a somehow deserved but modest win over a fragile opponent such as the Eagles.

It is hard to name any favourites for next weekend’s match, though, and just because they are playing home, Arsenal might enjoy from a slight favouritism.

Arsenal

Stats: W-3 L-1 D-1

Recent Form - LDWWW

Manchester United

Stats: W-2 L-1 D-2

Recent Form - WLDDW

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) – Szczesny - Chambers - Mertesacker - Monreal - Gibbs - Flamini - Ramsey - Cazorla - Wilshere - Sánchez - Welbeck

Manchester United (4-1-4-1) – De Gea - Valencia - McNair - Blind - Shaw - Carrick - Di Maria - Fellaini - Rooney - Juan Mata - Van Persie

Prediction

Arsenal 1 Manchester United 1