Manchester United-Arsenal: Champions League Second Leg Preview

Last Wednesday, in the first leg of their their tilt to see who will go to the Champions League final in Rome, English rivals Manchester United and Arsenal met in Old Trafford.

Manchester United scored an early goal by John O' Shea, and won the game by the score of 1-0. However, Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia made several fantastic saves which prevented Man Utd from scoring even more goals, but United pretty much dominated the game from start to finish.

On Tuesday, they meet in the Emirates Stadium in London, and one of the two teams will advance to the final. Manchester United and Arsenal are two of the best teams in England, if not Europe, and here is a preview of the match.

Manchester United

Manchester United have a 1-0 lead on aggregate after the first leg, and are looking for a good enough result that would allow them to get to the Champions League final.

United's attack absolutely dominated the first leg, as they took 14 shots, and seven of them were on target. However Almunia robbed Rooney and Tevez with great saves, and Ronaldo was stopped by the crossbar. 

Defenseman Rio Ferdinand's rib injury isn't that serious, as it was originally believed to be, as he only missed the 2-0 win at Middlesbrough on Saturday, and Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson told the press that Ferdinand will play Arsenal on Tuesday.

The key for United in the second leg is to score at least one away goal, as they can lose this game 2-1, but still win based on away goals.

Also, they will need to have Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidić, and the rest of their defense to play a complete and strong game on defense, as they cannot allow Arsenal to gain any momentum offensively.

They will also need their keeper Edwin Van deSar to play like he did earlier in the campaign to ensure that they will not concede any goals. If United can accomplish all of this, they could very possibly clinch their spot in the final.

Arsenal

Arsenal are down 1-0 on aggregate after the first round as they head home to North London to play at the Emirates, and were completely outplayed by Man Utd. They only took four shots all game, and only one of them was on target.

United was able to do more with the ball than Arsenal, and United's attack dominated their defense, and if it weren't for Manuel Almunia great goal keeping, this semi-final could be completely out of hand.

The key for Arsenal in the second leg is to forget about Wednesday as much as they can, and play the best that they can at home. So that means having Arsène Wenger getting his troops to have a great offensive game, which should be led from Adebayor and Fabergas, both of whom did very little on offense.

Also, by having Robin van Persie after he missed the first leg will be a huge key to Arsenal's attack.

Also, they will need to play better on defense then they did during the first leg, as if it weren't for Manuel Almunia, this series could already be over.

They also will need to hold onto the ball longer than Man Utd, and must keep the ball on the United part of the field, and not allow United to control the game.

Also, they have to face the reality that Eduardo won't be playing in this game, and get over this problem. If Arsenal could do this, they might earn their spot in the final in Rome.

Finally, the matchup between these two English rivals has been very entertaining, and we will see the end of this fantastic matchup with the second leg on Tuesday. 

In this game, I see Arsenal winning the game because of how well they play at the Emirates with the score being 2-1, but Manchester United will advance to Rome based on the away goal rule.

Finally, this second leg at the Emirates looks like a great second leg, and we will see one of these two English teams play in the Champions League final on May 27.