🔫 Arsenal vs United in the FA Cup 👹

Ferguson vs Wenger; The Battle of Old Trafford; Keane and Viera; ‘Pizzagate’; Ronaldo’s ridiculous free-kick in the Champions League; that Giggs goal in the 1999 FA Cup semi-final!

Few fixtures in English football have come close to the intensity of the rivalry that developed between Arsenal and Manchester United through the 90’s and into the 2000’s. Even if Arsenal and United haven’t been direct competitors for the top competitions for more than a few season now, the FA Cup is a competition in which the two clubs do have an ongoing rivalry —Arsenal have won the FA Cup 14 times, and United have won it 13 times.

This season, due to the expanded fixture list in UEFA competitions, the FA Cup will be played without replays. Not great for the lower league clubs who will miss out on the additional revenue that replays bring, but good for neutrals hoping for high intensity games.

With United showing signs of improvement, Arsenal scoring less goals from corners and with no Saka in the squad, this games a hard one to call.

We’ll also look at the other big fixtures in this round of the FA Cup, including Man City vs Salford City and Liverpool vs Accrington Stanley. We’ve also got the latest on Marcus Rashford’s wages and our shocker of the week features Arsenal’s top scorer Kai Havertz.

Today's game plan:

• Don’t Miss This Game 🎯

• This Week’s Shocker 🤬

• Around The World 🌍

• Games to Keep an Eye On 👀

• Goat Trivia 🐐

Arsenal vs Manchester United | Sunday | 15:00 GMT

With injuries to key players and an attack that hasn’t been as fluid as it was last season, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal team has adopted a more pragmatic approach as this season has gone on. Instead of blowing teams away like they did last season, Arsenal have been grinding out results with plenty of goals coming from set pieces, mainly corners.

Arteta’s boring Arsenal or Corner FC are relying on their centre-backs in the big games —Gabriel Magalhães has scored 3 times and William Saliba has netted twice. In fact, in the Premier Leagye game between these two back in December, Arsenal took a 2-nil win thanks to a couple of corners.

However, in recent weeks teams have started to adapt to Arsenal’s corner routines and prevented Arsenal from threatening from corners. In their games against Arsenal, Monaco, and Brighton left more attacking players on the half-way line for defensive corners which prevented Arsenal from crowding the box and using their blocking routines. It’ll be interesting to see if United use the same tactics to keep Arsenal on the back foot.

Form & Team News

The Gunners’ recent form has been a mixed bag. Their last outing was the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final against Newcastle. Arsenal were blown away by Newcastle, losing 2-nil at home —their first defeat at the Emirates this season.

After the game Arteta blamed the use of different types of footballs in the Carabao Cup and the Premier League as a factor why his team failed to score against Newcastle: “We kicked a lot of balls over the bar. It's tricky. This ball flies a lot.”

That’s embarrassing from Mikel.

The game before the Carabao Cup loss to Newcastle was away to Brighton in the Premier League. Arsenal were held to a 1-1 draw in that one. Top be fair to Arsenal, they went a goal up in the first half through 17-year old Ethan Nwaneri but Joao Pedro equalised for Brighton from the penalty spot.

Arsenal are still 2nd in the Premier League, 6 points behind Liverpool, who have a game in hand. There’s still a long way to go in the league, but with the inconsistency creeping in and draws starting to mount up, Arsenal fans are probably thinking that the cup competitions are the club’s most realistic chance of silverware this season.

Arsenal have dealt with a number of injuries to key players this season and the fitness issues keep coming.

After welcoming Martin Odegaard back into the team, Arsenal were dealt a hammer blow when Mr Arsenal himself, Bukayo Saka, tore his hamstring against Crystal Palace. Having undergoing a successful surgery, Saka will be out until March at least.
After scoring against Brighton, Ethan Nwaneri was subbed off at half-time and it was revealed that the youngster suffered a muscle injury that will keep him out for most of January. The other big miss for Arsenal on Sunday is Ben White who still isn’t match fit after having surgery on a knee injury in November.

GR Arsenal predicted lineup | Raya, Lewis-Skelly, Gabriel, Saliba, Timber, Rice, Partey, Ødegaard, Martinelli, Havertz, Jesus

United are showing signs that they are adapting to Ruben Amorim’s playing style. The performance against Liverpool was evidence of that, especially amongst United’s defenders who looked much more comfortable in stepping into the midfield to disrupt Liverpool’s attacking build up.

But, this United team have given fans false hope in the past. Whether or not they can build up some momentum now remains to be seen. Let’s not forget that the previous game in the Premier League saw United get absolutely bashed by Newcastle. Plus, other than Amad Dialo who is going to score the goals for United? There’s not a definite goalscorer to point to.

If you look at the game against Newcastle, although it only finished 2-nil, United got absolutely battered. Newcastle dominated from the start and created chance after chance, with best signing Mazraoui having one of his poorest games of the season.

The positives for United going into this game against Arsenal are individual performances. Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte looked good in the midfield and Diogo Dalot had one of his best games in a United shirt against Liverpool —keep in mind Dalot was up against Trent who let’s be honest doesn’t enjoy defending.

As well as Arsenal’s corners, the other big factor in this game is no Saka meaning Dalot can get forward down the left.

Ruben Amorim has had the majority of his first team players fit and in training this week leading up to this game. There are a few injuries for United to deal with though, including Mason Mount who picked up another injury in the Manchester derby, and Luke Shaw who is struggling with a recurring calf injury.

The other player that probably won’t feature is Marcus Rashford. That probably isn’t a surprise for anyone who has been following the football news this season.

GR Manchester United predicted lineup | Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Maguire, Martinez, Dalot, Ugarte, Mainoo, Amad, Fernandes, Hojlund

This Week’s Shocker…

Kai Havertz had a shocker in Arsenal’s 2-nil loss to Newcastle in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.

Havertz has scored most goals for Arsenal this season, with 7 in the Premier League, but this miss is indefensible.

Around the world…

🇮🇹 AC Milan interested in Marcus Rashford loan

Marcus Rashford’s agent has travelled to Milan to discuss a deal for the out of favour English forward. AC Milan executives are said to be interested in a half-season loan, with talks focussing on how to finance the deal as the Italian club have admitted that a large portion of Rashford's wages would need to be subsidised by Manchester United.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 132-year streak of Scottish managers ends

The sacking of Russell Martin by Southampton in December 2024 ended a 132-year streak of Scottish managers in the top two tiers of English football. This marks a significant shift in the managerial landscape, reflecting changing preferences in coaching appointments.

🇹🇷 Mourinho goes on another rant about Turkish referees

Jose Mourinho is up to his usual tricks in Turkey as he tries to close the 8-point gap between Fenerbahce and league leaders Galatasaray. After saying the league ‘smelt bad‘ a few months back, Mourinho has now ranted about there being a “scandal” in the Turkish Super Lig.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 West Ham appoint Graham Potter as head coach

After sacking Julen Lopetegui after 6 months in charge of the club, West Ham have now appointed ex Brighton and Chelsea manager Graham Potter as their new head coach. Potter was sacked by Chelsea in April 2023 but has now signed a two-and-a-half year contract with the Hammers.

Games to keep an eye on…

Aston Villa vs West Ham | Friday | 20:00 GMT

O Friday, the only other tie between two Premier League teams is between Aston Villa and West Ham. The Hammers sacked manager Julen Lopetegui on Wednesday and are in a bit of downward spiral having won just 1 of their last 5 games in the Premier League. After a blistering start to the season, Villa have also slowed down. This Friday night cup game is a chance for both sides to get back on track.

Liverpool vs Accrington Stanley | Saturday | 12:15 GMT

Accrington Stanley play their games just 30 miles away from Anfield so at the League 2 side don’t have far to travel for their match against Liverpool. However, the Accrington players will take on the toughest challenge of their careers when take on Premier League leaders Liverpool on Saturday.

Nottingham Forest vs Luton | Saturday | 15:00 GMT

Relegated from the Premier League last season, Luton now have an away trip to this season’ surprise package in the league. Forest have been flying under Nuno Espirito Santo’s management, and currently sit 3rd in the table on the same points tally as Arsenal. Luton will be hoping the Forest players let the focus slip for this 3pm kick off.

Manchester City vs Salford City | Saturday | 17:45 GMT

The late kick-off on Saturday sees Man City welcome Salford City to the Etihad. The Salford club is owned by Project 92, the company under the control of former Manchester United players; Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, David Beckham, and Paul Scholes. Salford are currently in League 2, the fourth tier of English football.

Tamworth vs Tottenham | Sunday | 12:30 GMT

The lowest-ranked team left in the competion, Tamworth are one of the only two non-league sides left in this season’s FA Cup, along with Dagenham & Redbridge. They welcome Tottenham to the 4,000 capacity Lamb Ground on Sunday for a classic David vs Goliath FA Cup fixture. Under pressure Ange Postecoglou will be hoping a big win can silence some of the more impatient Spurs fans who are calling for his sacking.

GOAT Trivia…

Say congrats to…

Rodrygo [@RodrygoGoes] the Brazil and Real Madrid winger turned 24 on January 9th!

On this day in football…

Back in January 2007, Arsenal smashed Liverpool 6-3 at Anfield in the quarter finals of the league cup. All in all, 9 goals were scored, with a goal from Robbie Fowler, a hat-trick from Julio Baptista, and a top-bag volley from Steven Gerrard.

Goal of the week…

Our goal of the week has to be this finish from Lisandro Martinez in the 2-2 draw between Liverpool and Manchester United. Proper connection on this strike from the centre-half.

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