On Wednesday at the Emirates Stadium in North London one of the Premier League’s greatest rivalries takes center stage as Arsenal host Manchester United (Watch live on NBCSN, 2:45pm ET and online via NBC Sports Live Extra) in a massive clash.
For so many years this rivalry has been all about Arsenal and United battling for the Premier League title, but this season it’s only the Gunners who harbor serious hops of a PL title, while the Red Devils are desperate to squeeze into the top four.
Both teams are coming off the back of damaging results, as Arsenal were hammered 5-1 at Liverpool on Saturday, while United threw away a late lead to draw with bottom side Fulham at Old Trafford on Sunday.
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United sit in seventh spot on 41 points, while Arsenal are third with 54 points and know a win over their fierce rivals will see them go back to the top of the table. The Gunners have only won one of the last 13 games against United, with the Red Devils winning 10 of those. But as we know, United under David Moyes are a completely different proposition to the team Sir Alex Ferguson built and used to do battle for the PL title with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger on a yearly basis. But that doesn’t mean the spice will be missing from this one, if anything, the heat has been ramped up with so much on the line.
Arsenal bring in Kieran Gibbs and Thomas Rosicky into the lineup, while United, they bring in Tom Cleverley for Darren Flecther in their only chance.
LINEUPS
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Rosicky, Ozil, Cazorla, Giroud. Subs: Fabianski, Jenkinson, Monreal, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Podolski, Sanogo, Bendtner
Manchester United: De Gea, Rafael, Smalling, Vidic, Evra; Valencia, Cleverley, Carrick, Mata; Rooney, van Persie. Subs: Lindegaard, Büttner, Ferdinand, Fellaini, Young, Hernandez, Januzaj