Manchester United vs Arsenal Prediction, Betting Tips & Preview

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Haydn Cunningham Feb 24, 2016 @ 10:32 pm

Manchester United continues to go from bad to worse and it reached an all-time low for Louis Van Gaal’s side after losing to FC Midtjylland in the 1^st leg of the Europa League last 32. They at least salvaged some pride when they travelled to Shrewsbury in the 5^th round of the FA Cup and managed to avoid an upset by winning 3-0. Four successive away games in a row for the Red Devils ended with that victory but before visiting the League 1 side they had drawn 1 and lost 2 of their previous 3. The manager is under increasing pressure with each passing game and his chances of entering the 3^rd and final year of his contract haven’t been helped by the injuries sustained to their 2 star assets, Wayne Rooney and David de Gea. The most recent league defeat to Sunderland wasn’t punished by Manchester City who also lost but gap remains 6 points to their neighbours but even LVG admitted with just 12 games to go their chances are gradually decreasing.

Naïve was the word to describe Arsenal’s result against Barcelona midweek in the Champions League. It now seems inevitable that Arsenal will once again be knocked out in the last 16 of the competition after a 2-0 defeat at home in the 1^stleg to the current holders. Arsenal defended resolutely in the first half and limited Barcelona to mimimal shots on target but despite failing to test Petr Cech in the first half, Cech couldn't do much in the 2nd with a brace from Lionel Messi in devastating fashion. Cech had previously gone 6 matches against Messi and kept the genius out on all 6 attempts but it took the Barca No.10 15 minutes to give Barcelona one leg into the quarter-finals of the competition. Arsenal now have to pick themselves up from the setback and try and come from behind as they did in the group stage where they had 0 points after 2 games against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos. 

Arsenal comfortably won the reverse fixture earlier in the season as they ran out 3-0 winners in a sensational first half performance that LVG said took Man Utd extremely by surprise. Man Utd were just startint to build some momentum before crashing to defeat. Man Utd haven't beaten Arsenal at Old Trafford in the previous 2 meetings but prior to that won 6 on the bounce. Both top league scorers are fighting for a spot in France's 2016 Euro squad with the host nation boasting a vast array of inform forwards with Anthony Martial of United and Olivier Giroud of Arsenal both likely to make the squad.

United's injury troubles have been well documented of late and none more so to the latest recruits, Wayne Rooney and David de Gea. Rooney's knee injury is set to rule him out for 6-8 weeks and his leadership on the pitch will be sorely missed with the lack of senior players evident in the 1st leg defeat to FC Midtjylland. Arsene Wenger is missing midfield trio Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere.

Manchester United

Stats: W-11 L-7 D-8

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Arsenal

Stats: W-15 L-5 D-3   6                                      

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Head-to-head record:

Possible Line-ups

Manchester United (4-2-3-1) Romero, Varela, Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Carrick, Schneiderlin, Depay, Herrera, Mata, Martial

Arsenal (4-2-3-1) –  Cech, Bellerin, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Monreal, Coquelin, Ramsey, Ozil, Walcott, Sanchez, Giroud

Injury List/Suspended Players

Man Utd – Shaw (inj), Rooney (inj), De Gea (inj), Jones (inj), Valencia (inj), Darmian (inj), Schweinsteiger (inj)

Arsenal - Cazorla (inj), Wilshere (inj), Rosicky (inj)

Manchester United v Arsenal Head to Head

League Positions