Arsenal v Manchester United preview.
Since losing 1-0 away to West Ham on 17th December of last year, Manchester United have been back in title form; winning 5 out of their next 6 games, drawing 1, and scoring 16 goals in the process. With only four months of fixtures left to complete Alex Ferguson’s energetic and talented team is well placed to attempt a glorious treble comprising of the Champions League, FA Cup and Premiership.
This Sunday the Red Devils face a stern test of their title credentials when they visit the home of the only team to have left Old Trafford with three points in this current campaign; Arsenal. Back in September when the Gunners exuberantly carved out their path to a deserved 0-1 victory in Manchester, United had not yet found the rhythm or cohesion which they now possess. Since that period Alex Ferguson has steered his young charges into the kind of form which could well see the club claim their first premiership crown for 4 years (02/03 season was their last domestic league success). With nearest rivals Chelsea playing away to Liverpool on Saturday, there is the possibility- albeit a small one considering Liverpool’s recent home form- of Manchester United opening up a 9 point lead at the premiership summit.
Tomasz Kuszczak was one of few United players to come out of the previous encounter with Arsenal with any dignity intact. The sturdy Polak has continued, as the season has progressed, to play a reliable substitute for ace stopper, Edwin van De Sar. And with Rio Ferdinand absorbing and enjoying the presence of Nemanja Vidic, Patrick Evra and Gary Neville providing solidity and support to midfield from the fullback positions, the entire United rearguard merits praise and respect. In midfield the combination of the re-energized dynamo Paul Scholes, flamboyant and increasingly deadly Cristiano Ronaldo and steadily improving anchorman, Michael Carrick; is capable of creating and scoring goals against any opposition. As if that wasn’t enough to strike fear into the hearts of every other Premiership squad, there is also the resurgent Ole Gunner Solskjaer who is someway back to his lethal best, an erudite Swedish 18 yard box assassin named Henrick Larson, and the pacey yet profligate Frenchman, Louis Saha. The only major player I have omitted from that group is none other than the young man on whose broad shoulders rests the hopes of a nation of present and future England supporters; Wayne Rooney. After every United performance in which Rooney appears I am left with a feeling that he remains a millisecond or three away from being the unstoppable force we all know he can and hopefully will be for the majority of his career. He hasn’t been playing badly, not by any measure. Such is his overall class that even an out of sorts Rooney is superior to most his peers. The meeting with Arsenal on this coming Sunday could well provide the perfect platform and occasion for Rooney to re establish himself as an up and coming superstar.
While Alex Ferguson and his players modestly accept the ego warming that the pundits’ plaudits and league position supply, Arsene Wenger and his motley crew of ravenous delinquents are writing their own preface to a new chapter in the club’s silver-laden history.
Sitting in fourth position in the league table, a staggering 15 points off current Premiership leaders Manchester United, the only realistic goal of the Gunners can now be to dislodge and replace
Liverpool in third position before the season ends. The team has been in a transitional phase over the last year with stars such as Reyes, Bergkamp, Cole and Viera all leaving Arsenal for new adventures elsewhere and a group of youngsters arriving in their place. It has taken some time for the newer elements of Arsene Wenger’s squad to gel together and begin producing the kind of football which is needed if trophies and titles are to be won.
The giant Emmanuel Adebayor has filled in remarkably well for the sporadically injured mainstay front man Thierry Henry and Robin Van Persie, with ten goals to his name, appears to be fast finding his feet in the English game. Vibrant Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas grows in stature and maturity with every game and his midfield partners of Gilberto Silva, Tomas Rosicky and Alexander Hleb are beginning to resemble a fluid and adventurous unit thoroughly exciting to watch. With Cole defecting to Chelsea, young Frenchman Gabriel Clichy has continued to develop his skills at left back while the ultra dependable Kolo Toure has proved the perfect tutor to the burly figure of Phillipe Senderos in the middle of the back four.
In their last six games, Arsenal have won five, lost one and scored 17 goals.
With Henry back in good shape and once again proving a constant threat when anywhere near the opposition goal, Arsenal will be confident of continuing their recent purple patch with a confidence boosting second victory of the season over their old enemies, Manchester United…
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