Something went wrong after the most recent international break and we came back out of sorts, but when you are playing every three days then it is hard to iron out your issues, those issues have to be resolved on the pitch. After the nightmare performance in Norwich we saw the hangover against Schalke and it was only against QPR that we saw anything like our game returning. Thankfully the league cup fixture at Reading meant that the madness of top flight football was thrust onto our current squad players and youngsters whilst the

Before a big game like this, you usually have an idea as to what shape your team is in and whether you have a good chance of getting something from a game. Today I have very little idea as to what to expect from this fixture.

At this moment in time, it is difficult to know how good we are. I am waiting for that Arsenal side who last travelled up to Manchester. That team grabbed a 1-1 draw against last season’s title winners.

We were the better team on that day and could have robbed City of their unbeaten home record so far this season. The team who we hope never return is the one that showed up in Norwich a few weeks back and I guess, therein lies the problem. We are not sure what Arsenal side will turn up but I have a hunch that the week would have done our first team players the world of good.

Something went wrong after the most recent international break and we came back out of sorts, but when you are playing every three days then it is hard to iron out your issues, those issues have to be resolved on the pitch. After the nightmare performance in Norwich we saw the hangover against Schalke and it was only against QPR that we saw anything like our game returning.
Thankfully the league cup fixture at Reading meant that the madness of top flight football was thrust onto our current squad players and youngsters rather than the senior players who had a chance to rest legs and more importantly find their rhythm on the training ground, rediscover the partnerships that were working so well previously and inject some belief into what they are trying to achieve on the pitch.

There is nothing wrong with the team technically, we are good enough to out pass Manchester United at Old Trafford, good enough to create chances and score goals. Individually the defenders are also top quality. As ever, it is just a case of all those components coming together at the same time. Apart from our finishing, the rest came together at Man City in the aforementioned fixture a few weeks back.

Arsene will want a similar display this lunchtime, and we will need that level of performance if we are to come back to London without disappointment.

I wonder how many times Sky will refer back to this fixture last season? I imagine it will be every few minutes. The truth is, that game is irrelevant. It is like comparing a match from five years ago. If my predicted line up is correct then only one player will be starting for us today that started in that fixture.

The team last season was akin to a league cup fixture given that a rookie Jenkinson, Coquelin, Traore and an out of sorts Johan Djourou all started. However it wasn’t until Arsene removed our defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin that we started to cave in. Before the 64th minute we were losing 3-1 and decided to go for broke and try and get back into the game. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replaced Francis Coquelin to make his Arsenal debut and well, we know what happened after that.

It was ridiculous. Every shot from then on flew into our net. Throughout the whole 90 minutes 8 of Manchester United’s 14 shots on target went in but it was only towards the end of the game that everything they attempted came off.

As shockingly bad and painful as that was last season, it will have nothing to do with today and what way to put that to bed, by going there and beating them a year later.

It is quite a shame that we do not have an inform Laurent Koscielny at the moment, if there was one player you wanted to take care of a striker then it would be he. He already has better players than van Persie in his pocket, think Lionel Messi at the Emirates a few years back.

Technically Robin van Persie does not scare me so much, not to say that he isn’t fantastic in that department but it is his movement that stands out above everything else for me. His ability to find space in the smallest of areas means that he doesn’t have to do much for many of his goals. It is important that Tomas Vermaelen has a very good game from a defensive point of view because if he doesn’t then his mate will score and by gee, none of us want that. I mean really do not want that.

I am very interested to see what styles the two sides adopt. We played a lot like how Manchester United play against us when we played at Anfield this season. Defensively compact when not in possession but broke at pace when we had the ball. Will Manchester United follow Chelsea’s template against us and aggressively go after Mikel Arteta and Santi Cazorla, strangling our supply to the rest of the team or will they sit deep and use Valencia on the break? After watching the Schalke game you can be sure that Santos will be some part of the red nosed one’s game plan.

The midfield battle with be very interesting, undoubtedly our strongest area of the pitch. It is one thing stopping Arteta from receiving the ball from the back four but we now have Jack Wilshere who should be even stronger this week with 62 minutes under his belt and another week of training with his team mates.

Aaron Ramsey is likely to be deployed wide of our attack to give us extra possession in the middle of the pitch as well as another defensive option when we do not have the ball. The object of the game plan will be to control the game and playing a midfielder rather than a wide striker gives us that chance.

Theo Walcott would be many fans choice but for the reason above as well as an exhausting midweek game we will probably see our contract rebel sit on the bench giving Arsene the option to bring him on against tired legs late in the game, no doubt the 68th minute.

Mean Lean’s Predicted Line Up:

For me, the most important Arsenal player will not be Arteta or Cazorla, not even our center backs but our left sided attacker. Lukas Podolski has frustrated me a lot this season not because of a lack of quality or work rate, not because he hasn’t given his all for the most part but because he has played so deep when we have needed him making late runs into the box. He has almost played as a second left back, and when we are playing away to Norwich you don’t really want to see him in those areas as much unless it is really called for. Well today ladies and gentlemen, it is called for more than any.

Antonio Valencia will be licking his lips at the prospect of running into the lush green grass behind Andre Santos. Lukas Podolski will have to show restraint today, he will need to spend plenty of time protecting the Brazilian who may get caught infield at times or in central midfield areas as he has done since Gibbs injury.

While I expect him (or hope) to put in a defensive shift, I wonder if the law of averages hand him a good goalscoring chance today and if so, it is about time he took it, Lukas is a big game player, a player of great courage and experience so for me, Podolski is Arsenal’s key man today. It might not play out that way but if I want one player to have an exceptional game then it is he.

Anyone wanna offer me a draw? No? because you know I would snatch your hand off but I tell you what, I would luv it if we were to win this one. Since that guy left us to go there, I have wanted us to win this fixture so bad. So bad it hurts. I just don’t want to see van Persie smirking and high fiving Wayne Rooney at full time. *Sicks*

van Persie may not even be the danger man though, Alex Ferguson has bravely rotated his referee’s even after Clattenburg’s top display for United last week at Chelsea and in comes the experienced Mike Dean who has done very well for him at Old Trafford in the past.

Cue punishing us for every 50/50 and allowing the United midfield to go in robustly on Cazorla and Arteta. How about an early yellow for Wilshere? Dean has history against us and let us hope he has an off day.

Old Trafford, van Persie, Valencia, Dean. We have a lot to overcome. Perhaps too much. If we are to show that we can mix it with the top then this is a big one that we need a good result.

Last call for Iron Man’s piece yesterday, well worth having a read to bring back the old memories between these two sides at Old Trafford.

If Giroud scored the only goal in a 1-0 away victory I would love to hear this from the away boys.

COME ON ARSENAL!!