Potential Manchester United XI vs Arsenal
Manchester United travel to North London on Sunday afternoon where they’ll take on rivals Arsenal in their first clash with the big boys of the season.
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The Reds are coming off the back of five wins in a row in all competitions, with the latest being a battle against Bundesliga side Wolfsburg in the Champions League.
This week Arsenal were beaten at the Emirates by Greek side Olympiakos 3-2, while leading defender Laurent Koscielny picked up a hamstring injury to rule him out of the weekend clash.
With United seemingly having plenty going for them, Louis van Gaal must pick the right team to attack the weaknesses of the opponent and remain top of the league going into the international break.
In goal, David De Gea has been in excellent form since signing his new four-year contract last month. He could do nothing about Wolfsburg’s goal in midweek and kept two clean sheets in the games prior to Wednesday. He played a blinder in this fixture last season and he will need to be on top of his game once again if United are to be successful.
In defence, Louis van Gaal has a couple of choices to make. At right-back, Antonio Valencia started against Wolfsburg but struggled immensely against the floating Julian Draxler. He was replaced at half-time by Ashley Young who did much better in this role and was more of an outlet going forward too.
Starting Young at full-back could see him switched over to the left, meaning Matteo Darmian could move back over to his natural right-back position. That would mean a natural defender up against Arsenal’s biggest threat in Alexis Sanchez, something van Gaal will be keen on.
Another option is handing Phil Jones his first start of the season. The England international is fit again after recovering from mild thrombosis and said this week that he hopes to break into the starting line-up. With injuries to Marcos Rojo and Luke Shaw, van Gaal could opt to bring Jones into the starting line-up and move Daley Blind out to left-back.
In midfield, Michael Carrick has been passed fit to play at the Emirates. The 34 year old missed the midweek win with a minor injury but the boss confirmed during the pre-game presser that he would be fit to play at the weekend. With Morgan Schneiderlin yet to hit top form since his £25 million move from Southampton in the summer, van Gaal could be tempted to pair Michael Carrick and Bastian Schweinsteiger as he did against Liverpool. The duo are positionally sound, comfortable on the ball and both are more than capable of dictating the tempo of a match. It could be the perfect remedy for Arsenal’s possession based style and quick counter attacks.
The front four, unfortunately, picks itself right now.
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Memphis Depay has started to find his feet on the left wing and while he’s struggled to find the back of the net in the Premier League, he finally opened his account last weekend and will be hoping to kick on from there. On the opposite flank, Juan Mata is in the form of his life. The Spaniard was the main man against Wolfsburg and continues to impress as a playmaker cutting in from a wide role.
Anthony Martial is the man to lead the line. Despite not scoring in either of his last two appearances, he’s shown how good his all-round game is with his hold up play, linking with the midfield well and taking on his marker to create space for others.
The unfortunate line, comes because Wayne Rooney is guaranteed a start. The England captain has five goals this season but his overall performance is without doubt the worst spell of his career. He’s struggling to influence games in any way and at the moment is seemingly only being picked because he wears an armband. Ander Herrera has been the most productive No.10 at the club so far this season in his brief spell in the role and with him being a doubt for the game you can somewhat justify the decision to start Rooney in this game, but not for much longer if he fails to perform again.
