It’s one of the biggest matches in the EPL this season as Manchester United hosts Arsenal. The live blog will begin about 10 minutes before kickoff or at 2:50 PM USA Eastern and 7:50 PM local UK time (GMT).
Match Preview
Manchester United (last 6 EPL matches – WWDDWW)
The Red Devils are the only unbeaten team in the EPL and could go on top of the table with a win. They have a 7-1-0 record at Old Trafford and +18 goal difference. Injuries to the squad include Hargreaves (hamstring), Owen (hamstring), and Valencia (ankle).
Arsenal (last 6 EPL matches – LWWLWW)
The Gunners are top of the table heading into the match and can extend their to three points with a win. Arsenal is 5-2-1 in away matches and won their last four. Injuries for the match are Almunia (elbow), Diaby & Gibbs (both ankle), Frimpong (knee), and Vermaelen (Achilles). Captain Cesc Fabregas could be available for the match and will face a late fitness test before kickoff.
Prediction
Arsenal’s form has dropped a bit in recent weeks while the Red Devils are always very tough at Old trafford. A narrow in for Man U seems most likely (2-1) but it wouldn’t be a shock to see Arsenal sneak out a win.
Live Blog
ESPN2’s listings through FIOS do not show the game to be on tv today, I recorded the shows that are listed to be on from 3-5pm in hopes that the listings are just wrong. Anyone else notice this? I’m assuming the game is on the duece but listings are just wrong
I spent a while with Verizon this morning – they couldnt tell me whether DVRing the incorrect listings @ 3 and 4pm would actually tape todays game. I figured that worse comes to worse, it will be archived in espn360.com and I’ll watch the game there instead. I will be very irritated if arsenal win and I miss it !
I did the same thing. I normally have the ESPN 2 games DVR’d automatically. When I checked to make sure this morning it wasn’t there, so I recorded all those shows. I wish I had realized it yesterday…I would have just made a manual recording during that time period.
United defense is superior. No ball control for arsenal, they need a change, maybe walcott and/or move nasri to center.
Well, I think that a Nasri move to center and Walcott to the right wing would have been a better move than what they did. I missed the first hour of the match, somehow it didn’t record. But Fabregas was pretty worthless coming on, but in general I thought Arsenal lacked any kind of presence and seemed afraid to move forward with the ball. Instead they made low-percentage passes, and even many of the high-percentage passes were well off-target. Just a very bad showing for Arsenal.