Arsenal vs Manchester United: Red Devils Will Dominate Gunners Once More

Arsenal face their season-defining match on Sunday against Manchester United at the Emirates, and judging by the way the Gunners have played recently, there's no reason to believe the Red Devils won't dominate them like they did in an 8-2 win at Old Trafford in August.

Arsenal are just 2-1-3 in their last six league matches and are coming off a horrible 3-2 defeat to Swansea City. The defeat dropped the Gunners four points behind Chelsea for fourth in the Premier League table, the last spot to qualify for Champions League play next season.

An Arsenal loss to United and a Chelsea win against Norwich City this weekend would drop the Gunners seven points behind the Blues, which may be an insurmountable deficit.

"I am confident we will get into the top four,'' Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny said via Sports Illustrated. "We don't deserve to be outside the top four. We should be challenging for trophies every year and I believe the results will pick up and we will at least finish in the top four because we have the quality in the squad to succeed.''

Arsenal may have the talent needed to get into the top four, but you have to prove it on the pitch, and there are just too many issues the club has right now, even against inferior teams.

One glaring one for Arsenal is their inability to score from players not named Robin van Persie. The Dutch star leads the league with 18 goals but is getting next to no help from his teammates.

As a club, Arsenal have not scored more than two goals in any competition in their last eight matches dating back to early December. When Van Persie doesn't give the club two goals in a match, it's going to be really difficult for the Gunners to win.

Against a superior United side on Saturday, all Sir Alex Ferguson's men need to do is focus on stopping Van Persie and they will easily earn a positive result for themselves. It's really that simple for United because Arsenal's other attacking players are performing so poorly right now.

United come into the Emirates full of confidence and will no doubt think they can dominate the Gunners again. Their last two matches were a huge FA Cup win at Manchester City and a clean sheet in the league against Bolton Wanderers.

Despite their struggles, United are only three points from their cross-town rivals at the top of the table, and a win on Sunday could possibly move them into the league lead.

With a team struggling to score goals, struggling to defend well late in matches and facing the pressure of a must-win match, Arsenal will be dominated by United for a second time this season.

Will the Red Devils go into the Emirates and win 8-2 like they did in Old Trafford? No, I wouldn't count on it, but a 5-1 or 4-0 victory for Ferguson's men wouldn't be a surprise given the current form of the two clubs.

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