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Man Utd v Arsenal preview | Latest team news, Ramsey starts + predicted score

By on December 5, 2018

pierre-emerick aubameyang arsenal

Arsenal can cement our position in the top four with another win when we take on Manchester United at Old Trafford this evening.

Sunday’s 4-2 comeback victory over Tottenham in the North London Derby has given the club a huge lift and I think it’s helped bring everyone closer together following years of divide under Arsene Wenger.

The win over Spurs saw us extend our unbeaten run to 19 matches in all competitions and we now sit fourth in the Premier League table so we can at least maintain that position with victory at Old Trafford.

We’ll face a United side that are in turmoil as they are eighth in the division after a disappointing start to the season and we can open-up an 11 point advantage over them if we win tonight.

However, Arsenal fans shouldn’t be over confident as we have a horrendous record at Old Trafford and we always seem to lose there, no matter what team is put out by United. Plus, there’s the Jose Mourinho factor to consider.

Team News

Unai Emery has no fresh injuries to contend with but it remains to be seen whether Mesut Ozil will be involved after missing the last two games with an apparent back problem. Granit Xhaka misses out due to suspension.

Nacho Monreal is back in full training after missing the last two months with a hamstring injury but I don’t think he’ll start tonight while Laurent Koscielny continued his recovery with a run out for the U21’s last night. Danny Welbeck is obviously still out.

United have a number of doubts for the game as Luke Shaw and Phil Jones are set to miss out after picking up knocks during the 2-2 draw with Southampton while Ashley Young is suspended.

Victor Lindelof and Alexis Sanchez are on the sidelines while Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Antonio Valencia, Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford face late fitness tests – but I expect most of them to be passed fit.

Preferred line-up

I’d love to see Emery stick with the side that featured in the second half against Tottenham with Alexandre Lacazette joining Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang up front and Aaron Ramsey behind in the hole.

Matteo Guendouzi deserves to come in for Xhaka in midfield and I’d stick with the back three as it gets the best out of our attacking full-backs. This would be my line-up:

football formations

As for United, their starting eleven is likely to be: De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Bailly, Darmian, Matic, Fellaini, Pogba, Lingard, Martial, Lukaku

Predicted score

Our record at Old Trafford is poor as we haven’t won any of our last 11 league games there and we always seem to lose no matter how well we play against United. However, hopefully things will be different tonight. We have a new manager, new-look team and we should be in confident mood off the back of the unbeaten run and win over Tottenham. United are a bang average side these days and some of the players clearly aren’t playing for Mourinho anymore. No doubt we’ll make life difficult for ourselves but I’m backing the boys to secure a 2-1 win. Man Utd 1-2 Arsenal

Where to watch

The game will be shown live on BT Sport so those who subscribe can watch the match in ultra-HD. Those who aren’t with BT Sport or attending the game will need to find other ways to watch it online. We can’t condone this sort of thing, but you can watch Arsenal games on various streaming sites and there should be lots of links for the United game tonight going around on social media. Just try and find one that isn’t covered with ads and has a solid stream.

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