United return to the capital for the second time this season on Sunday as they North London&aposs other big club in the hope of returning with a better result. Erik ten Hag&aposs were beaten by Tottenham and now face the undefeated Gunners.
It&aposs been an underwhelming start to the campaign with even the two victories against Wolves and Nottingham Forest coming in spite of underwhelming performances. United haven&apost been helped with injuries and are without Mason Mount, Raphael Varane, Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia, Kobbie Mainoo, Amd and potentially Jadon Sancho and Scott McTominay for the trip to the Emirates.
They have, however, been boosted by the return to fitness of striker Rasmus Hojlund and the inclusion of new signings Sergio Reguilon, Jonny Evans and Altay Bayindir in the squad. However, Chris Sutton, Paul Merson and Mark Lawrenson agree United will be returning to Manchester without the three points.
Here&aposs what the pundits predicted:
Both these teams I think performance-wise have underachieved albeit Arsenal have seven points from nine and Manchester United have six from nine.
I think there are question marks over whether Mikel Arteta has been tinkering too much, legitimate questions really. Manchester United just haven&apost sparked yet. They ended up beating Nottingham Forest with a dubious penalty.
Arsenal, at Emirates Stadium – this is going to be the kick-start to their season. I think they&aposll beat Manchester United but I don&apost think it&aposll be a walkover.
Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Manchester United
Manchester United are all over the place, especially in midfield. They have to keep it together. The Red Devils desperately need another holding midfielder.
They can&apost expect to play Casemiro every game this season. With the amount of talent they have up front, they should be doing better but their midfield is just too easy to cut through.
That&aposs the reason why they found it difficult in the games against Wolves, Spurs and Forest. Until they sort out that, they will continue to be vulnerable in every game they play.
The pressure is on Arsenal this season, which wasn&apost the case last term. That&aposs why this could be a massive match for the Gunners. If they lose this game, then Arsenal could find themselves five points behind Manchester City by the end of the weekend.
I honestly think this is a hard one to call. Manchester United have had their ups and downs but they can turn up for games. But I&aposm going with Arsenal because of their home advantage. This one can go one way or the other.
I think something is up with Gabriel Magalhaes. I don&apost see why Mikel Arteta would break up the effective centre-back pairing of Gabriel and William Saliba. It worked so well for them last season. So I think there&aposs more to his exclusion from the starting lineup than it being a matter of team selection.
Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 Manchester United
