New Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta will be hoping to record his first Premier League victory in charge of the Gunners when they host Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium in London on New Year's Day. The reverse fixture was played in September at Old Trafford and it ended 1-1, Scott McTominay opened the scoring for the Red Devils and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made it all square for the Gunners. Overall, Manchester United have won three of the last six direct matches in all competitions, while Arsenal have won just one.
Mikel Arteta started his reign at Arsenal with a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Boxing Day, and last weekend the Gunners suffered a 2-1 defeat at home against Chelsea after having held a one-goal lead for most of the match. It was quite an unlucky result for Arteta, the first goal the Gunners conceded came as a result of a terrible mistake by goalkeeper Bernd Leno, and the second was mostly the fault of defender Shkodran Mustafi, who replaced injured Calum Chambers in the first half. With Sokratis Papasthatopoulos also injured, Arteta might be forced to play Mustafi again alongside David Luiz, while Rob Holding, Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac remain long-term absentees.
Manchester United have done quite well during the festive period, they won 4-1 at home against Newcastle on Boxing Day and last weekend they won 2-0 at Burnley. Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford scored in both matches, and the Red Devils moved up to fifth place in the league table, four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. Paul Pogba missed last weekend's match due to an injury but could return to the starting eleven on Wednesday, while Scott McTominay, Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Eric Bailly, Marcos Rojo and Diogo Dalot are all sidelined for the visitors.
Probable line-ups:
Arsenal: Leno - Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Luiz, Saka - Torreira, Guendouzi - Nelson, Ozil, Aubameyang - Lacazette
Man United: De Gea - Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw - Pogba, Fred - James, Pereira, Rashford - Martial
My prediction:
Arsenal have quite an injury crisis in defence, and playing David Luiz and Shkodran Mustafi will surely give Manchester United the chance to score at least once at the Emirates Stadium. Mikel Arteta will most likely be able to motivate his players, but Manchester United are in better form and could win this 2-1.
Here are the odds for the match at NetBet:
Arsenal win - 2.75
Draw - 3.70
Man United win - 2.45
