Manchester United travel to London to face fourth placed Arsenal in a massive match at the Emirates on Sunday.  While it’s technically not a “must-win game” for either side (as comedian Brian Regan likes to say), there will almost certainly be a special atmosphere in north London due to the historic rivalry between the two English giants.

Yes, the Patrick Vieira and Roy Keane squabbles are long gone, and the Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson chess matches/war of words ended in 2013 when the legendary United manager retired; however, the Arsenal and United game is still one of the marquee matchups in the league.

Over the last few seasons there have been two unusual circumstances in which the eventual match-winning goal was scored by a player that previously played for the losing team. Robin van Persie (formerly of Arsenal) netted the lone goal in United’s league victory over the Gunners at Old Trafford in November of 2013 and Danny Welbeck (formerly of Manchester United) helped knock the Red Devils out of the FA Cup during a match in March of this year.

Manchester United are entering the weekend having won five out of their last six total matches, including four consecutive victories. Midfielder Juan Mata has been the club’s star player so far this season, as the Spain international has racked up four goals and three assists (including an amazing backheel assist during Wednesday’s Champions League match against Wolfsburg) over his last six appearances.

Arsenal, on the other hand, are not exactly firing on all cylinders at the moment.  The seesaw season that the Gunners are currently experiencing includes a victory over local rivals Tottenham Hotspur and a 5-2 thrashing away to Leicester, as well as a 2-0 loss to Chelsea and two disappointing Champions League defeats.  The north London club needs to quickly put their 3-2 defeat to Olympiacos on Tuesday behind them and a victory on Sunday would surely raise moral around the Emirates.

TV Schedule

For viewers in the US, the game will be shown live on NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra at 11am ET on Sunday.

Additionally, you can mute the TV and listen to Gaz and Adam from the FullTime Devils as they share their comments about the match live on Rabble.tv.

Team News

Arsenal

Wenger has said that midfield duo Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Flamini will miss out on the massive match, as will defender Laurent Koscielny. According to Wenger, the central defender suffered a hamstring strain during the Olympiacos match and will remain on the sidelines for around three weeks.  There is, however, some good news for the Gunners.  Defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin responded well during Tuesday’s match after missing the Leicester game due to a slight injury.

Predicted lineup

Manchester United

Manager Louis van Gaal gave the squad the day off on Friday due to having completed six total matches in just 19 days. Midfielder Michael Carrick, who missed out on Wednesday’s match against Wolfsburg with a “small problem,” will be in contention for a starting XI spot and van Gaal recently stated; that there were no new injuries following the game against the Germans.

Predicted lineup