Arsene Wenger says Arsenal’s latest showdown with Manchester United is even bigger than usual because the two sides sit so close together in the table
Louis van Gaal’s Red Devils are currently top of the Premier League just three points ahead of the Gunners as the two sides prepare to clash at the Emirates on Sunday.
Reflecting on a fixture that he’s presided over 54 times in the last 19 years, Wenger revealed he’s confident of securing a positive result.
“It is a special fixture because usually Man United are always fighting at the top,” he told press on Friday. “It has an even bigger meaning now because there are three points between the teams, and we play at home in a big game.
“We have just come from a big win at Leicester and we want to continue our run. We are the only team who has beaten [Leicester], so I don’t see why we should not believe we can beat Manchester United.
“At the moment it is too difficult to say that any team dominates the championship,” added Wenger. “It is so tight that one point more after seven games does not mean you will suddenly make a big difference in the league.
“It is settling at the moment and it is a very important time in the Premier League but you cannot come to a conclusion that one team is above everybody else.”
Despite losing against United at home in the league last season, the Gunners twice impressed at Old Trafford securing victory in the FA Cup and a late league point in May.
According to Mesut Ozil those two results, along with last term’s win at Manchester City, have gone some way to helping Arsenal rebuild their confidence against England’s strongest opponents.
“The anticipation and the expectation is obviously big,” the German midfielder told Arsenal Player.
“We just want to prove ourselves and get the three points. When you prove yourself against big teams, your self-belief increases because you believe in yourself more.
“If you look at our team, in the last few weeks we’ve been weakened by red cards. But if we can prevent that, I’m convinced that we can do well against big teams. We’ll show that against Manchester United.”
—
Let’s fuck ’em up boys; wipe the smile off LVG’s stupid, fucking, twat, piggy, fat, face.
Twat.
Draw.
This match is huge. Its mammoth in size. Its of gargantuan proportion. We cannot afford to put in another limp-wristed performance against a fairly weak United side at home. This LVG side have had a fairly easy ride in the Premier League so far, however, it pains me to admit it, we will still need every ounce of quality we have in our collective locker to beat them. This psychological edge that seems to of been instilled since in Fergie days is still right there if you scratch beneath the surface a tiny bit, its in the back of everyone’s… Read more »
Ozil is beginning to upset me somewhat. I’ve spent two seasons making excuses for him, looking forward to this mythical time when he finally plays like a 42m player but slowly but surely I’m beginning to accept the mediocrity of his performances and now know that this glorious Ozil would have appeared by now if he exists. And feel free to quote stats at me showing key passes and assists. But when have we ever seen him say “right, I’ll take it from here boys” and just dominate teams? Given we have a proven match winner in Rambo who can… Read more »
I have always said it that, to understand the problems in this team, just look at our record signing, our biggest player, the one who is supposed to be setting the tone. His game reflects all what is wrong with the team – lacklustre, one dimensional, predictable and crumbles when the going gets tough.
If history is anything to go by, Ozil vs the big boys is akin to taking a fart to a shiiite fight.
You should put down the red tabloids pal, switch off the oh so great pundits on the telly buddy, have a look in the mirror and say “what have I become chief?”
No pashon only assists and key passes! Y u no faking raaan a bit Ozil??
you need to look ahead of Ozil. That’s where the problem lies. He’s lining them up, but our forwards can’t put them away
Take Ozil out and we would struggle to make mid table on our current form. Yeah hes not scoring goals and we’re failing to put away his chances but look at his overall contribution to our team.
Talking out of your arse is eazy Ozil, as for you Wenger, an angry outburst does not fill me with confidence that we will put it right against United.
We’ve just scored 9 goals in three games, 6 against.
I’ll take that average 3:2 scoreline on Sunday.
Time to boss it Mesut. Valencia is a liability at RB, especially against Alexis. Need some penetration from our No. 11!
Let’s do ’em like we did Liverpool at home last season
So fuckin’ up for this game!
Na you wan play the game?
Valencia? Why wouldn’t Darmian be playing at right-back?
Errrr because maybe he is playing left back??????
We play the most attractive football in the PL, bar none.
Since the CL requires a consistency that we cannot seem to muster, perhaps we should put (all) our eggs in the PL basket and shoot for finishing on top.
Pretty passing, non existant defence and plenty of missed chances, and you call that the most attractive? Ha
In a team built for offense defensive lapses will occur, its the nature of the game. As for the chances, I concur, it would be nice to see them put away.
Incidentally, If one wants stalwart defending, this is the wrong team to support. Perhaps certain ‘park the bus’ type of teams may be better suited.
Hogwash! In football, offence and defence are not mutually exclusive. There is simply no reason Arsenal can’t be both an excellent offensive team and good defensively. It does not require ‘parking the bus’ in order to be less cavalier about defensive responsibility. Surely there is a balance that can and should be struck if this team wants to achieve great things. Wenger can do it because he has done it before , and these players are more than capable. Now lets give them the support that they need to get there.
Oh how i wish we had adams keown, adams bould and adams keown again again.
Stillman knows.
We used to play the best football I agree. Now we just pass sideways and backwards. Tippy tappy bollocks has had its day, even Barca are a lot more direct now.
I believe Wenger will prepare the game more defensively,
a more cautious Arsenal is what i expect, because the scars
are still there from Tuesday. And if we get the three points he
might win some of the fans. But then again he is so stubborn
he might just try to outplay man utd.
I’m a big Coquelin fan, but i feel on tuesday the problem was his position far too high on the pitch (why? that is the question)! Get this fixed and with a more solid defensive base, we can beat anyone !
let’s just make this right
Good time to make a strong statement so we can forget those UCL performances
Another match.. more big talk. Heard it all before and seen too many limp perfomances after. If only talk won 3 points.
You want your manager (any manager) to say there is no chance, we’re just making up the numbers?
My interpretation is Wenger has ignored the fact our LAST game was a loss. Sure it was another competition, but the fact is we know the players are mentally fragile right now. Especially as Ozil stated they need to win against a big team to regain the self belief. I really hope they play with total aggression and the choice of resting players benefits us as the Mancz played a day later. Shame Koscielny ain’t playing but Gabriel looks like a beast that’ll put Sideshow Bob in his place and their forward, Shrek back in the cave. A win would… Read more »
The more I follow football, listen to pundits, read comments, etc. , the more I think no one knows anything.
It seems like most analysis is just taking the most recent performance and predicting that will continue.
Who the fuck knows?
Thing is, that approach works ok for most teams, just not for Arsenal as we are so ludicrously inconsistent, you just never know what you are going to get with us.
I said to my pal at work, a West Ham die hard fan that we are the most schizophrenic team in Europe……He agreed
“It is so tight that one point more after seven games does not mean you will suddenly make a big difference in the league…” except that, the tighter it is, the more difference one point here or there actually makes, surely?
Oops, that was meant to be a separate point, rather than a reply to myself.
As much as this is a Must Win game, personally i see it as a DO NOT FUCKING LOSE. If we can’t do that then god help the poor server this blog sits on, as the manager will be safe as houses.
I think we will beat them. They are not a very solid side after all.
Tbf, they’ve looked better lately and it looks as if Martials the real deal.
But I think we’ll win too. Why not?
Time to shut the fuck up, hunker down in training and get us back our pride and much needed three points is what i will say!!…..anywhere you turn..the papers, the internet, the TV, radio, arsenal is being slaughtered!..so, less rubbish talk and now lets see some action…ON THE PITCH!!!
And in the stadium, the fans really need to be up for this one.
Emirates seems a dead stadium. The acoustics don’t help. There needs to be real singing sections and the snobs can sit in the top deck somewhere and enjoy their day out, sitting in their fancy seats and clap and say hurrah.
The real passionate fans need to be placed in the right areas of the stadium. In addition, why are the away fans given such prominent seating? At times you can hear the away fans more than the home fans.
So beating Leicester is now a big achievement and a proof that we will beat Man U. When did Leicester won UCL and a dozen of PL ? Anyhow, I predict a crazy game with a 4-2 win for us.
I’m predicting an Arse win solely because every time I think we’re total shit, I’m proved wrong.
But Martial (sp?) is looking like a hell of a buy.
I do like that photo. Nice to see the United fans seeing the funny side instead of being abusive cunnies. a bit easier when you’re winning, of course
If we play at a high tempo and use the pace we have in our team, we will beat them.
We need to go at them and expose their defence for what it really is!
COME ON YOU GUNNERS!
Arsenal is a magical team dat fails wen u expect dem to excel nd excel wen u tink dey hve a mountain to climb! Go U Gooners!
Did not understand a word of that.
Might not be an answer using language your used to based on your apparent social demographic group but drop the smart arse act.
If you have as many brain cells in your head as you are claiming to have with your arsey comment, use them an you’ll realised it’s pretty straight forward to decipher the point that is being made.
Can’t stand arsewipes like you trying to belittle others because they don’t make points in a tone or language that you adhere to.
English?
Anybody who reads this blog knows the difference between “dey” and “dat” and “they” and “that” commonly used in this blog and is a requirement for commenting.
It behooves contributors to stick to standard English words even if English is not the first language.
A mix of text speak and pidgin. I thought the rules at least frowns on text speak. If Paul stems from where I think he stems from then I expect his accent would fit in nicely in No Country for Old Men which albeit broad, still qualifies for English.
You don’t understand the word Arsenal? It’s the name of the best team ever which forgets its the best team ever and thinks it’s a Shiite team and plays like dickheads and loses to Monaco and Olympiakos, but when it decides it is the best team ever it becomes invincible and becomes immortalised. Its the greatest team that ever was
When was the last time we beat Man United in the league? (genuine question)
Good question. If Wikipedia is anything to go by it was 8 November 2008 at the Emirates. 2 -1 .
May 2011, Rambo scored the winner
“…your self-belief increases because you believe in yourself more.”
What a quote there from our German
The trouble with Ozil is when the team plays well he plays well but when the team doesn’t, he tends to fall off too.
This is the single aspect of his game (besides finishing…which of course makes it not the single aspect haha) which he can most improve.
I sense Wenger smells the possibility of taking a scalp at United. Hopefully he’s lit the fire up the teams bottoms and got them properly fired up this time.
There isn’t much reason to be excited coming from Arsenal. I can’t even take comfort in the mediocrity of this Man U side because that hasn’t stopped them before. This is a game we are far more likely to lose or draw than get a positive result out of.
0-0 handbrake
Heard it here first! All we gon do is win win win!!!
Oh how everyone avoids the “we are gonna get 3 points” talk. We should be aiming for that right? Afterall we are playing at home eh?
This talk of ” we believe” “we want to prove ourselves” fails to inspire.
Deep inside our minds we all know that Wenger’s Arsenal hasn’t got the ambition; little details like dropping one of our best players in a must win CL match send the message clearly: financial stability is more important for the board than winning the PL, and Wenger provides such stability. He will stay for a long time am afraid.
Deep inside our minds we all know that Wenger’s Arsenal hasn’t got the ambition; little details like dropping one of our best players in a must win CL match send the message clearly: financial stability is more important for the board than winning the PL.
Ate we going to win the league in next 1.5 years ?
I am confident that I have no idea what will happen…but it will be interesting…oh to be a gooner!
COYG! 🙂
Bring back Sol, Kolo, Lauren and Cashley in their prime. That’s all I am asking for.
Wenger got upset bless him……well piss off then you stubborn arrogant twat. Why should he be the only manager with a job for life? Bloody ridiculous, Jose and Neville are spot on
Even the bookies think we will win but deep in the mind of every arsenal fan is uncertainty of the performance we will put off. Well i hope we dont lose for the sake of peace and our beloved manager’s health
I suggest Grioud starts up front with Theo on the wing. Gives us better scoring chances and more pressure on Utd.