Aaron Ramsey Says Manchester United Should No Longer Be Feared by Arsenal

Recent years have witnessed a gulf in standards emerge between Manchester United and Arsenal. The champions have won four Premier League trophies, a Champions League crown and more in the last six years, while Arsenal's infamous drought is entering its ninth year.

Aaron Ramsey no longer sees that as reason for his side to fear the Red Devils, however, and believes the current league leaders are capable of overcoming their gilded opponents Sunday.

The Welshman has plenty of reason to be confident, after all, having just come away from netting the winner in Arsenal's midweek Champions League clash against Borussia Dortmund, his 11th goal of the campaign.

Speaking ahead of Sunday's meeting at Old Trafford, Ramsey commented on his side's chances of bagging three points. John Cross of Mirror Football reports:

"

We’ve got a massive game now at Manchester United and in the past few seasons we’ve struggled to go there and get a good result so hopefully we’ll feel a lot more confident and this will be the time when we do manage to do that.

There’s no fear of going there, absolutely not. They’ve had a bit of a rough start. They’ve had a few good results, they’re getting their confidence back up but we’re really confident ourselves. Our away record has been really good so hopefully we can continue building on that.

"

The Gunners have beaten United just once in their last 12 meetings across all competitions. Even more daunting is that one has to look back as far as 2006 to find the last time that an Arsene Wenger side triumphed at the Theatre of Dreams.

Arsenal haven't had this kind of momentum at the start of a campaign for some years, though, and it just so happens to coincide with a period of transition for David Moyes, making this weekend as good an opportunity as ever for the North Londoners to break their winless streak.

It was even Ramsey himself who scored the sole goal in Arsenal's 1-0 win over United back in May 2011, almost as if it were written that the 22-year-old would come back to have a further hand in Moyes' downfall.

With his newly invigorated form, Ramsey is as likely as any of his Gunners teammates to do damage against the reigning league champions this Sunday, as his side look to prove their pedigree as challengers to the throne.

One very pertinent difference between the two sides in recent seasons has been the attack, and it was all the way back in the 2004/05 campaign that Arsenal last outscored their Manchester rivals in a Premier League season.

However, the London outfit have been superior in all facets this term, scoring 22 goals—five more than United—and conceding less, too.

Sunday will serve as a proving ground for both clubs, it seems, and it's hard to pull apart just whether it's Moyes or Wenger shouldering more pressure to perform.