Manchester United face Arsenal at Old Trafford on Sunday in what is one of English football’s great fixtures.
United and Arsenal are two of the biggest and most historic clubs in the history of the English game.
However, both sides come into this game with a few problems.
Arsenal have a serious attacking injury crisis on their hands at the moment. Kai Havertz is out for the season, while Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka are also absent.
Ethan Nwaneri has stepped up in recent times, but Arsenal have failed to score in each of their last two league games, while two late Mikel Merino goals rescued the Gunners against Leicester City.
As for United, their league position tells the whole story.
| Position | Team | Played MP |
Won W |
Drawn D |
Lost L |
For GF |
Against GA |
Diff GD |
Points Pts |
 |
27 | 9 | 6 | 12 | 33 | 39 | -6 | 33 |
United have been poor recently, and they haven’t had a convincing performance in the Premier League since their 4-0 win against Everton – four months ago now.
Writing in his column for the BBC, Chris Sutton has been discussing how this game will go, and he’s made a confident prediction.
Chris Sutton predicts Manchester United vs Arsenal
Sutton shared his verdict on how this game will go.
The pundit says that United will be on the backfoot in this game, but he noted that the Red Devils do seem to raise their game against the top teams this season.
However, Sutton ultimately said that Arsenal will win this one, claiming that the Gunners will definitely find a way to win here, tipping a 1-0 victory for Arsenal.
“Arsenal have struggled to score in the Premier League but the goals were flowing freely for them against PSV and this feels like it is going to be another rearguard action for Manchester United, similar to the way they got past the Gunners in the FA Cup,” Sutton wrote.
“United do seem to, somehow, raise their game against the better teams and that is the only way they are going to make this close.
“I still think Arsenal will win it, though.
“So, although United might try to make things hard for them, I definitely think Arsenal will find a way through.
“They won’t score seven again, but this game has got all the hallmarks of ending up 1-0 to the Arsenal.”
Manchester United record vs Big Six this season
Sutton says that Unite seem to raise their game against the bigger clubs, but there isn’t much truth to that based on the results.
Yes, United have managed to snatch points from Manchester City and Liverpool at times this season, but their overall record against the Big Six this term is as poor as you would expect it to be.
| Manchester United record vs Big Six clubs this season | |
|---|---|
| 7 | |
| Wins | 1 |
| Draws | 2 |
| Losses | 4 |
United lost the reverse fixture against Arsenal 2-0, and, interestingly, Arsenal had to field a makeshift XI in that game to due to injuries and suspensions.
Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko earned praise after that game as they made rare appearances for the Gunners.
Ruben Amorim praised Arsenal after that game, and while he’ll be hoping for a different result this time around, as Sutton says, it’s very hard to see United getting anything in this game.
Arsenal do have a lack of attacking depth at the moment, but they should still have enough to get past this poor United side.
