Premier League Preview: Man United's Young Guns to Derail Arsenal's Title Tilt?

Sunday is shaping up nicely. Louis van Gaal has the horn. Arsene Wenger has the hump. In a season of perpetual shifting sands, moods swing swiftly.

After 18 months of self-imprisonment inside a Dutch dystopia of his own design, where Old Trafford has morphed into the Theatre of Daydreams, a mausoleum of memories, a paean to possession, Van Gaal has finally opened the curtains and rediscovered his mojo.

When Van Gaal asked Juan Mata to explain to the media in midweek how he often tells his players to be horny, the affable Spaniard looked like the kid who has been tasked with demonstrating to the rest of the class how to put a condom on a cucumber.

Awkward perhaps, but after United scored five for the first time under Van Gaal in vanquishing Midtjylland in the Europa League on Thursday, making it eight goals bagged in four days, there was a sense of the handbrake being released.

It’s a measure of where they are currently at that Manchester United host Arsenal at the weekend in rare buoyant spirits, by virtue of wins that in normal circumstances would have been as routine as Muhammad Ali pitching up in a random town in his pomp, offering to step into the ring with anyone who fancied his chances.

Conversely, Arsenal as a collective are still sat cradled in the fetal position after Barcelona’s visit to the Emirates on Tuesday. If only Wenger could have been bothered to read one of the thousands of "How to Beat Barcelona" guides that littered the Internet all week. 

A trip to Old Trafford is not traditionally the tonic for an Arsenal side that has made "doing an Arsenal" a phrase that cannot be uttered without an accompanying sigh. Essentially, existing as themselves has become an insult. 

While a defeat for United would likely flatline their bid to sneak an unlikely Champions League place via a top-four finish, it still seems a bigger game for Arsenal.

For the first time in Premier League history, Arsenal travel to Old Trafford as favourites. Despite the fact they have not won a league match at their rivals since September 2006, when Emmanuel Adebayor scored the game’s only goal, the bookmakers on Oddschecker have Wenger’s side as front-runners. Arsenal have lost six and drawn two of their eight league meetings since.

Even the Invincibles side of 2003/04 that went 49 games unbeaten weren’t fancied to return to north London from Manchester with maximum spoils.

To lose to Barcelona is one thing, but to lose to a Manchester United side decimated by injuries is another entirely. Danny Welbeck’s late winner against Leicester City somehow seems an aeon away, with blanks against Hull City and Barcelona meaning Arsenal have now failed to score in five of their last eight matches.

In three home games prior to Barcelona, Arsenal attempted 70 shots and scored twice.

As Per Mertesacker put it curtly in the dissection of Tuesday's defeat, Arsenal’s primary issue isn’t at his end of the pitch.

"We need to play better on the break and when we have the ball," he said via the Guardian. "We could have created more chances and shared the ball better in the final third. Obviously, we need to score."

Welbeck provided a fillip against Leicester and will be keen to make a point to Van Gaal on Sunday, but just a cursory look at his strike rate does not inspire confidence that he is a long-term solution to their goalscoring woes.

"The way we finished our chances is a problem. I felt in the final third we missed something," conceded Wenger, via the BBC.

If they fail to score against a Manchester United side shorn of David De Gea—and that on Thursday included Michael Carrick at centre-half, Joe Riley making a first start at left-back and Guillermo Varela (boasts two Premier League appearances) on the opposite flank—the natives will be searching under the stairs for pitchforks.

Doing an Arsenal is not an option for Sunday.

While Wenger is still seething about the naivety shown in his side’s 2-0 defeat to Barcelona, Van Gaal has been forced to embrace it.

After a spate of injuries that number 13 and counting, Van Gaal fielded a United side on Thursday that at various points in the evening included Marcus Rashford (aged 18), Memphis Depay (22), Guillermo Varela (22), Regan Poole (17), Joe Riley (19), Andreas Pereira (20) and Jesse Lingard (23).

More often than not, naivety is a curse, but in some cases it can be a virtue. It’s naivety that gives youth its fearlessness, emboldens the callow. Those Manchester United supporters hankering after a return to a past where young players breaking through was the lifeblood of the club will show patience that in previous weeks had finally evaporated.

Even within a framework of acute inertia, there’s vitality to young players that can prove intoxicating. 

Midtjylland right-back Andre Romer conceded post-match, via Metro, that he was tormented by Depay over the course of 90 minutes to the extent that he was close to tears when sat in the dressing room at full-time.

"I’ve never been so close to crying after a match as I was today," he said. "Memphis is the best player I have ever faced. It was difficult to do anything about it when he plays like that."

If it's any consolation, Andre, you will have been among many inside Old Trafford on Thursday evening who have been reduced to tears by a Depay performance at one point or another.

A good portion of Midtjylland’s side may have looked as though they had other jobs to go to in the morning, yet still there are few facets of the game more edifying than young talent introducing itself with an exclamation mark.

Local lad Rashford’s promotion from the bench just before kick-off after Martial had complained of a tight hamstring will have had United supporters declaring with confidence to anyone who’d listen, "Good player, this kid," while surreptitiously Googling, "Who the bloody hell is Rashford?"

On this occasion, Murphy’s law did Van Gaal a favour. Recently departed academy coach Paul McGuinness had told the Manchester Evening News in December that Rashford was ready to "step up."

"He can score unbelievable goals, dribbling past three defenders, but he needs to be more like Ruud van Nistelrooy where it goes in off his knee, or comes back off the bar or the keeper and he puts in the rebound," said McGuinness. "Real goalscorer’s goals."

Rashford must be in possession of a sound pair of ears, as well as a goalscorer’s knack, as he marked the most mature of debuts with a pair of smart finishes.

Van Gaal was similarly beaming post-match, via the Independent:  "We are looking for consistent strikers and there are not so many on this earth, but he gave a brilliant performance. I didn't have another option, so it was easy. He was there on the bench because he was the natural substitute of Martial."

Rashford could be handed a Premier League debut on Sunday if Martial is ruled out. Van Gaal’s initial assessment is that the Frenchman’s strain is not "heavy," with Wayne Rooney’s absence exacerbating the need for at least one senior striker to be available.

Wenger will be acutely aware that United’s issues this season have not been as a result of struggles against the bigger teams. In some respects the last vestige of Van Gaal as a top-class coach, in a sea of criticism over methods many believe to be antiquated, is his record against the top four.

United have only lost once to a top-four side all season, when they were overwhelmed in the corresponding fixture back in October. On a miserable day in the capital, they found themselves 3-0 down to Arsenal at the Emirates within the opening 20 minutes.

It's at the other end of the table where United have struggled. Defeats to Bournemouth, Swansea City, Norwich City and Sunderland means United are the only side in the whole league to have lost four games against the bottom six. Not even Aston Villa are that bad.

Prosaic possession seems to trouble the big boys, though, with neither Tottenham nor Manchester City having bothered the scoresheet in their respective fixtures against United. A draw at Leicester City was procured where others have floundered, while a double was secured over Liverpool for the second season in succession with minimum fuss.

A treble is now needed after Friday's Europa League draw with Liverpool, even more so if United don't derail Arsenal's title tilt on Sunday with a victory.

West Ham United vs. Sunderland, Saturday at 12.45 p.m. GMT

Leicester City vs. Norwich City, Saturday at 3 p.m. GMT

Southampton vs. Chelsea, Saturday at 3 p.m. GMT

Tottenham vs. Swansea City, Sunday at 2.05 p.m. GMT

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