Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal head to the Theatre of Dreams on the back of consecutive league defeats, while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Man Utd are still looking for a first home league win of the season and their first victory over Arsenal in five meetings. Match set for 14:30 BST/10:00 PM IST/8:30 AM PT/11:30 AM ET kick-off.
Team News Arsenal:
Gunners are seeking to avoid a third straight defeat after losing 1-0 to both Manchester City and Leicester City. But he needs to find a way to get Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang into better goal scoring positions when they visit Manchester United on Sunday.
In the opening six matches this season Arsenal’s captain has too often found himself isolated out wide. He is without a goal since the opening-weekend win at Fulham and has registered only eight shots all season, In that time Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah have both attempted 29 shots.
Arsenal will be without Brazilian center back David Luiz (thigh), who continues to be monitored after picking up muscular issue during Sunday’s 1-0 home defeat to Leicester City. Fellow defenders Calum Chambers (knee), Rob Holding (thigh) and Pablo Mari (ankle) are long-term absentees, as is young striker Gabriel Martinelli, who has returned to training but is lacking match fitness having not featured since March
Team News Manchester United:
The Reds saw off RB Leipzig 5-0 in the Champions League in midweek, their most convincing performance of the campaign so far. According to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the majority of the squad has come through that test and should be fine to take on Gunners, who are seeking their first league win at Old Trafford since September 2006.
Brazilian full-back Alex Telles, who tested positive for COVID-19 wont’ be available for the big match along with Anthony Martial, as French man serves the final match of his suspension for Man Utd after straight red against Spurs.
Eric Bailly and Jesse Lingard will be on the sidelines, with those two set to be missing until after the November international break.
Ole told reporters, “Alex won’t be ready, no,
Apart from that I would think everyone else, at the moment, looks like they could be involved.
The squad looks good
, There was no injuries [from Wednesday] which of course is a big plus when you think of every game we play and the intensity. We’re getting better and better, I think everyone is seeing now that our fitness and sharpness is more up to speed and we should be ready for that game [on Sunday].”
Ole also provided an update on Phil Jones and Sergio Romero
“Sergio has just come back into training this week. He’s started his pre-season work and he’s working to get to his peak fitness with the goalkeepers.
”Phil has been injured and he had an operation and he’s been working really hard to get back. He’ll hopefully get fit during December. That was a natural thing when you’re injured, you can’t really be in the squad can you? He’s working really diligently and he’ll be coming back soon.“
Key Facts :
- Man Utd are unbeaten in 13 PL home matches against Arsenal, since 2006, and are undefeated in the last 29 such matches in which they have scored.
- Man Utd have the best PL record in Sunday matches, with a win-rate of 54 per cent and points-per-match ratio of 1.9, out of clubs have played at least three fixtures on this day.
- Arteta can become the first Arsenal manager to win his first two PL matches against Man Utd.
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has gone five league matches without a goal for the first time since November 2014, while playing for Borussia Dortmund.
Match officials for Sunday’s big game:
Referee: Mike Dean. Assistants: Ian Hussin, Dan Robathan. Fourth official: Anthony Taylor. VAR: Peter Bankes. Assistant VAR: Neil Davies.
