Manchester United Vs Arsenal Preview

Manchester United vs Arsenal

Saturday 29 August 2009,

Old Trafford

Kick-Off: 17:15

Manchester United

Manchester United come into the match on a real high. After a woeful loss against Burnley at Turf Moor, Sir Alex Ferguson’s men responded with class in a 5-0 thumping of Wigan on Saturday.

The match was 0-0 heading into the break, but the defending champions came out like a wolf on the hunt in the second half to hammer five goals past a helpless Wigan.

The loss of Cristiano Ronaldo in the summer has left Sir Alex looking for attacking options, but the five goal display against Wigan will surely be encouraging for the United boss.

Michael Owen opened his goal scoring account against Wigan and he could ultimately play a key role in the success of United’s chances this season.

Wayne Rooney has stepped up his game in recent weeks and will be looking to continue his run of good form.

Nemanja Vidic, in the heart of the Manchester defence, is also a crucial piece to Sir Alex’s puzzle. When he is at his best, there are few better in the business, and the Serbian will indeed have to be at his best to stop a razor sharp Arsenal attack.

Arsenal

Arsenal have been on cruise control entering the titanic clash against Manchester United.

After an astonishing 6-1 victory away against Everton, Arsenal followed up the thrashing with another dominant performance over Portsmouth in a 4-1 win.

Entering the season, it was feared that Arsenal did little to bolster their chances of challenging for the title having lost Emanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to big spending Manchester City. However, the cries have quickly turned to cheers as Arsenal’s young squad has thoroughly impressed early in the season.

Arsene Wenger elected to rest Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, and Andrei Arshavin (barring the last twenty minutes) in Arsenal's 3-1 win against Celtic on Wednesday night in their Champions League qualification win, but all three should return for the match at Old Trafford.

Cesc Fabregas, recovering from a hamstring injury, was saved as a precaution while Tomas Rosicky, suffering from a similar injury, should also return for Wenger against Manchester United.

Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri, Johan Djourou and Lukasz Fabianski are still on the mend and will likely miss the match.

Prediction

There are few games more entertaining than when these two giants match up against each other. Expect flowing football with pace and everything one could ever desire from a match.

Last season, Manchester went toe-to-toe no less than four times with Arsenal (twice in the Premier League and twice in the Champions League) winning two, drawing one and losing the other.

Both Man Utd vs Arsenal matches at Old Trafford ended in Man U victories, and the Red Devils generally do well against the North London club at home.

This match could paint a clearer picture as to both of these sides' chances of claiming silverware this year, and so the two teams will be eager to post a result in this epic encounter on Saturday afternoon.

Manchester United vs Arsenal Prediction: Man Utd 2—Arsenal 1

Read the complete preview (plus many others) with the BEST betting odds on the match at the Manchester United vs Arsenal preview page at Sports Betting Review now!