Arsenal vs. Manchester United Preview: 6 Key Matchups for Sunday

They say time heals all wounds, but I don't think that adage accounts for 8-2 drubbings against rivals.

It's been nearly five months since Aug. 28, 2011 and the disaster that was Arsenal's performance at Old Trafford.

On that day, a patchwork Gunners side were outworked and outclassed in every possible manner in what was the lowlight on the way to an eventual nadir, as Arsenal would eventually drop to 15th place in the league standings in September before righting the ship.

Arsenal have fought back since, and now sit in fifth place in the Barclay's Premier League standings, with 36 points taken from 21 matches.

They are 15 points back of leaders Manchester City, and four points removed from Chelsea, who hold the fourth and final coveted Champions League spot for next season.

Manchester United, who head south to London and the Emirates for Sunday's primetime match, currently find themselves in second, just three points back of their nouveau-riche cross-town rivals.

Both teams have endured rough starts to 2012, with Arsenal losing to Fulham and Swansea City in league play, with a 1-0 victory against Leeds United in the FA Cup bridging those two defeats.

United lost to Blackburn Rovers at home on New Year's Eve 2-3 and were defeated away to Newcastle United 3-0 in the ensuing match on Jan. 4.

The 10-day break between the Newcastle match and this past weekend's fixture against Bolton seems to have done them a world of good, however, with United drubbing Wanderers 3-0.

With both teams looking to get back on track, the match looks certain to be, at the very least, thick with plot and intrigue. For example:

Thierry Henry, scorer of 227 career goals for Arsenal, has rejoined the club on a short-term loan deal from New York Red Bulls of MLS.

Paul Scholes, who alongside Ryan Giggs seemed for years to defy the trappings of age, finally retired at the end of last season, only to return to the Red Devils this January on an undisclosed transfer.

Both men have scored since reappearing in their old colors, with Henry grabbing the winner against Leeds and Scholes adding one of United's three against Bolton.

If its predecessors are any indication, the match should be a riveting one. It's hard for them to be any other way when there's so much history between the two clubs.

And if revenge is a dish best served cold, what better time for the Gunners to strike back against that horrible late-summer memory than during a rivalry match in the throes of the perennially unforgiving English winter?

Here are several intriguing matchups to keep an eye on during Sunday's match.

Legend vs. Legend

Both men are inextricably linked with their clubs' histories, immediately called to the fore during any debate about the greatest players not just for United and Arsenal, but in the history of the English game.

Scholes was with the side in their epic treble triumph of 1998-99, and for years provided the attacking fulcrum in midfield, adding goals along with tireless industry.

He came up in the organization with Giggs, Beckham and the Neville brothers, eventually working himself up, along with the others, into the lather of legend.

For a time, Henry was the first striker of his kind in Europe.

Before him, we'd never seen a player who could score goals with what appeared to be effortlessness and grace. Those goals, and that style of play, became embedded with the panache that Arsenal have since made their foundation. Results obtained via beauty.

As Eric Cantona, of all people, might say, "Football is a noble art."

Like Scholes, Henry was with the Gunners during Wenger's golden age, winning two league titles and two FA Cup crowns, and earning numerous individual plaudits along the way. For a while during the last decade, it seemed as if the end-of-season award voters just kept him on the team sheet, in order to save themselves some trouble. He would probably be on it, anyway.

Aged 37 and 34, respectively, Scholes and Henry have long since left their prime behind them.

But what does remain in the place of what were once springy legs is sheer quality and an uncanny ability to read the game.

It's little wonder both have already managed to score since returning—Scholes even started the match against Bolton before making way to, fittingly enough, Ryan Giggs. Henry has yet to start for Arsenal.

Both will almost certainly make an appearance on Sunday. The question becomes, then, which one will have the decisive impact.

Arsenal's Possession vs. Manchester United's Deadly Counterattack

Counterattack.

The word bound to curl the lip of any self-respecting Gooner, entering into the ignominious lexicon alongside such terms as Spurs, Van Nistelrooy, and (shudders) Squillaci, Silvestre.

Manchester United have made it a habit in recent matches against Arsenal of packing their defence, thus perfectly content to soak up Arsenal's possession before picking and choosing the perfect instances where they can launch the attack—often to deadly effect.

The 2009 Champions League semifinal return leg notwithstanding, United scored on the counter against Arsenal in last season's FA Cup match and the 2010 league match at the Emirates. And I'm sure I'm neglecting to mention many more instances.

To my mind, the last time Arsenal scored against Man U with one of their vintage passing movements was in November 2008, when they defeated the Red Devils 2-1 at the Emirates on the back of a Samir Nasri brace (it's the second goal—my, how I miss that kind of Cesc-y wizardry).

United's squad selection in last season's FA Cup sixth-round tie said it all. Sir Alex Ferguson sent out only three true attacking players (Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Darron Gibson), deciding to fill in the other seven outfield positions with defenders (O'Shea, Brown, Evra, Vidic, the Da Silva twins and Chris Smalling).

Whether you consider it a slap in the face or simply effective tactics, the fact is that it worked to perfection. United won that match 2-0 doing just what they'd done countless times over the past several seasons.

Will Arsenal show more tooth in their attack this time around and make United pay for sitting back in defence?

Fabregas showed in that '08 match that any defence can be undone with bits of prodigious skill. The Catalan now departed, who will step up and show that kind of individualistic exploit required of such a match?

Arsenal's Defence vs. the United Attack

Despite the impressive form of Frenchman Laurent Koscielny to date in 2011-12, Arsenal have continued to look shaky in defence—both in the run of play and on their age-old nemesis of set-pieces—with last weekend's 3-2 defeat away to Swansea City simply the latest in a long line of poor showings.

With 31 goals conceded in 2011-12 (obviously, those eight against United back in August stick out like a sore thumb and skew the numbers), the Gunners have conceded the most of the top-seven EPL sides at the moment.

Newcastle United (sixth place) and Chelsea (fourth place) have both conceded 25, which ties them for second behind Arsenal.

With the Premier League title a now-distant memory, Arsenal shift their focus toward securing a Champions League spot ahead of next season. To do so, however, they will need a far stingier defense and much better defending from set pieces.

Obviously, the continuing malaise of Thomas Vermaelen's injury woes don't help matters one bit. The Belgian is always a welcome sight in defense, but on Sunday he will likely be sidelined alongside other customary first-choice defensive options Bacary Sagna (right-back), Andre Santos (left-back), and Kieran Gibbs (left-back).

There have been reports that Vermaelen and Sagna may return in time to play on Sunday, but that seems a bit rash to rush them back in what promises to be a high-octane fixture.

The main question then becomes, can a projected Arsenal backline of Djourou, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Miquel deal with the likes of Manchester United's myriad attacking options—Wayne Rooney obviously the figurehead, and joined by Nani, Antonio Valencia and the ever-present Park Ji-Sung, who never seems to miss a match against Arsenal (and never seems to fail to score, either).

Mikel Arteta and Arsenal's Midfield vs. United's Mids

It didn't take long in the Swansea City match to realize that midfield mainstay Mikel Arteta was missed in the Arsenal side like a sore thumb.

Having picked up a slight muscle knock against Leeds, the Spaniard was unfit to play in the Gunners' trip to Wales, and the midfield suffered mightily as a result of the absence of Arteta's cool head under pressure and savvy, precise distribution.

With it likely that Arteta will return for the Goliath fixture (is it too much to ask that Vermaelen return as well?) on Sunday, can Arsenal dictate terms in the middle of the park?

The Gunners normally use three central midfielders (Alex Song, Arteta and Aaron Ramsey, who provides an attacking option behind central striker Van Persie) to United's preferential four (two central holding mids between two wingers).

If an attack for Arsenal is to come, can it emanate among these three?

And if United launch the counterattack, will they be able to snuff it out effectively?

Theo Walcott vs. Patrice Evra

We all know of Evra's propensity for bombing forward from his position of left-back down the left-hand flank, where he usually joins United's left winger in putting the opposing defence under pressure with overlaps and dribbles to the endline.

It's often a deadly option (Evra has two league assists this season), and the Frenchman often seems inured to pain as he tracks forward and back repeatedly throughout the course of 90 minutes.

Can Theo Walcott, likely to start at right wing for Arsenal, keep Evra preoccupied with his own runs, and can he track back effectively enough to check the left-back's charges?

Robin Van Persie vs. the United Defence

Will the Dutchman provide the sort of decisive class in front of goal that we've become so spoiled by since the start of 2011?

If so, that will require Van Persie receiving adequate service from his attacking colleagues, something that has at times this season proven problematic.

If No. 10 is starved of time on the ball, Arsenal usually suffer as a result.

Put him in a dangerous situation with the ball at his feet, and it's very likely he'll score (18 league goals so far this season, compared to Arsenal's next-best tally of four, earned by Gervinho, who will not be playing Sunday while on duty with Cote d'Ivoire at the ANC).

Van Persie will be tasked with outsmarting United's central defence tandem of Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans, but don't think for a second he'll be daunted by that.