Arsenalvs.Man Utd

The Gunners host Ruben Amorim's Red Devils on the hunt for a fourth straight win across all competitions, having slain Nottingham Forest, Sporting Lisbon and West Ham United since the November international break.

Saturday's trip to the London Stadium saw Arsenal come up trumps 5-2 against West Ham, netting all five of their goals in the first half and matching an English football feat last achieved in 1937 in the process.

However, the Gunners' first goalscorer - Gabriel Magalhaes - had to come off at the break, as an issue that he had picked up in the Champions League win over Sporting Lisbon flared up during the derby.

Arteta was also deprived of Thomas Partey (muscle), Mikel Merino (knee) and Myles Lewis-Skelly (unspecified) after all three players sustained issues in training, while Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu are out for the long-term with knee injuries.

Arteta "kept some players away" from training activities

Full-back Riccardo Calafiori also failed to make it to the hour mark in the all-capital clash, although Arteta affirmed at the time that his substitution was precautionary and for load management reasons.

Asked for the latest on his squad's injury situation in his pre-game press conference, Arteta confirmed that he had to keep some unspecified players away from particular training activities on Tuesday, but he suggested that some could return as "all" are pushing to be involved.

"We're gonna have a meeting this afternoon. We have done a training session. We monitored and kept some players away from certain activities," football.london quotes Arteta as saying. "After that meeting I will decide which ones are fit and available and who will start. They all want to play."

While Arsenal have hit a rich vein of form since the international break, Man United are unbeaten since giving Erik ten Hag the boot, avoiding defeat in each of their last seven games under Ruud van Nistelrooy and now Amorim.

The Red Devils demolished Everton 4-0 at the weekend to rise into the top half of the Premier League table, and Amorim conquered Arteta with Sporting Lisbon in the last 16 of the 2022-23 Europa League, overseeing a penalty-shootout success at the Emirates.

Arteta: 'Amorim has put his fingerprints on Man United'

The Arsenal boss refused to accept the notion that Wednesday's game offers the opportunity for revenge, though, and he spoke about the 39-year-old's early impact at Old Trafford in glowing terms.

"It's not revenge it's always about another opportunity and whether you have beaten them or lost against any opponent, in the end, it's going to be very different to the past," Arteta added. "We learned that, we played against Sporting a few days ago and it was very different to two years ago. It has no meaning.

"You can see his fingerprints [on the club], you know what he wants to do straight away, I think he's been very clear. He's been very successful with Sporting, it's remarkable after so many years what he achieved there, especially in the way he did it and the way his teams have been playing.

"He brings energy to the club, to the players, new ideas and that's always something that's positive but we have to focus on what we have to do."

Arsenal begin the midweek round of fixtures second in the top-flight table, nine points adrift of runaway leaders Liverpool and only above London rivals Chelsea on alphabetical order.

Written by

Ben Knapton