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Breaking down Arsenal/Manchester United
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AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis
There’s no getting around it, tomorrow’s a big one. Man United/Arsenal never fails to get the juices flowing, and even though it’s still early in the year, that won’t lessen the intensity.
For Arsenal, the season has hit a nice, big two-week rut that is threatening to potentially define the 08-09 campaign. Coming off three disappointing results in a row, Arsene Wenger’s bunch is pretty desperate for a result. And it’s not everyday you hear talk about the man himself quitting, although he has nixed that rumor.
The big problem right now is the injury situation, which doesn’t make things easier against a United team that seems to be finding its form. Check out this article on the problems facing Wenger tomorrow – van Persie out (red card), Adebayor out, Walcott maybe, Gallas maybe, Silvestre maybe, Eboue out.
That doesn’t bode well for the Gunners, but at least they’ll be playing at the Emirates. And we should get some more looks at those exciting young players who have been tearing up the Carling Cup. But fully fit are not, there are no excuses at this point as they approach a game that could turn this tough streak around and get them back up a little closer to the leaders.
For United, they’ve braved injuries and a tough schedule to put themselves back in position. After this game, they will have already played at Anfield, Stamford Bridge and the Emirates. Ronaldo has been near his best in recent weeks, and with Michael Carrick back in the midfield and Anderson looking solid there as well, the Reds are fully-stocked once again.
In the end, this game is probably just a bit more important to Arsenal in terms of the entire season, while Man United still has all the rest of the Big 4 coming to Old Trafford. But the Gunners certainly are up against it when considering injuries and recent form, so we’ll have to see how they come out tomorrow.
Final prediction? 2-1 United.
