I’ve been up since some ungodly hour this morning, as the Management and I head off for some winter sun for a couple of weeks, which is great. The missing of The Emirates and at least three home games is a bit of a bummer, but First-World Problems n’that, so I won’t look for any sympathy.

Instead, I’ll share some thoughts on the impending game against United. I have to say, I feel very differently about this one compared to three weeks ago. At the end of December/beginning of January, United was still bumbling around with Amorim. They were about to play out a 1-1 draw at Leeds, and their manager was picking fights internally, it seems. I always look at seasons as ‘blocks,’ and once the Christmas period had finished with the win away at Bournemouth, I looked at our hectic January schedule, and this United game felt like a very winnable one at the time. Fast-forward to now, and I’m looking at the game on Sunday, with somewhat trepidation. It’s the narratives, you see, those little pesky narratives that have me saying things in my head like:

On the first point, I guess there’s not really a lot you can do about it, and perhaps, we can hope that United used up all of their good juju on smashing City last weekend. Hey, I’m a superstitious man, so I’ll look for any kind of angle to cling on to.

With regards to point two, that day we probably edged it, I think United got a silly penalty from an Odegaard foul, and Ronaldo slotted home to make it all about him. It was also at their gaff, which I think changes the game state from minute one, so I’m hoping that because it’s at our place, we will have the edge and hopefully too much for them.

On the third point, I think this is also relevant for Liverpool as well, in which I feel like far too often we play ‘the badge’ rather than ‘the team in front of us. Liverpool did sit in for their first half recently, then also flooded the midfield, and we played poorly in the second for our 0-0, but it really felt like we gave them far too much respect. And if I’m honest, that’s also what I worry about on Sunday. We really shouldn’t be playing the legacy of United; we need to play like we have done for most of this season at home, taking down a decent – but not amazing – team who will almost certainly look to hit us on the counter.

United away from home this season have played 11, won three, drawn five, and lost three, with a negative goal difference of one. They have, however, beaten Liverpool with a bit of a smash-and-grab earlier in the season. I watched parts of that game and Liverpool hardly gave them a battering, but they did succumb to United on the counter and a set-piece goal, if I remember rightly. We need to not fall foul of any motivation and morale-boosting they’ve had, though. More on a tactical look and vibes on what we need to do tomorrow, because ideally, today I wanted to look at where United have been this season from a playing style perspective. But the problem is, with Carrick coming in, we have few data points to call on. Amorim’s three at the back looks dead, although United will slot into a back five at times on Sunday, when we have the ball in their half. They have also recalled Kobie Mainoo, who was frozen out under the Portuguese manager.

With him and Casemiro anchoring the midfield, they stayed in a compact shape and then used rapid counters to bloody City’s metaphorical noses on a frequent basis; I wonder if Carrick witll do a “same again lads” on Sunday? We are, as we all know, a better defensive unit than City, but as Erling Haaland’s goal against us at home earlier in the season showed, in big games like this, sometimes we can be really aggressive in our team positions. Remember Wolves getting Hwang through on goal in the first half before Christmas, as a result of the same Arsenal high press of all bodies? If United get those chances, I suspect they would take them more than Wolves did.

So there are some nerves for me ahead of this one. But what about those United fans? How are they feeling? Let’s have a quick check….

*Does some basic Google searches*

Some initial comments include:

This’ll be a horrible game, Arsenal haven’t lost at home yet.

Would snap your hand off for a draw right now, but it’ll be tough. Can see another annoying set piece focused game. Maybe Mazraoui back though?

We need another pragmatic line up, if we can nick a win it will somewhat make up for stupid points dropped to Burnley, Wolves, Everton and WHU.

But after today’s performance and with the players likely to be available for this one, we have nothing to lose by going there with the audacity to try and cause an upset.

There’s a lot more confidence than a lot of the different fans forums I’ve been reading of our opponents over the last five weeks or so, but I guess that is reflective of the performance and the result against City. There are a lot of United fans who are feeling themselves at the moment and after that game in which they really schooled a City side challenging for the title, I can kind of see why. I’ll do a little more on the match preview side tomorrow and Sunday, but it’s why I do think we need to get in to them early and move the ball really quickly, because I can see them tucking in to that compact shape again and making it frustrating for us.

Arteta will have his press conference today, from which I’m hoping we get some kind of good news about either Hincapie or Calafiori, but I suspect we will probably get confirmation that we’re dealing with the same squad as we had for Inter, for which Arteta still has some selection decisions to make. That’s a ponder-job for me for tomorrow I think, based on what he says today in the presser. So for now, for today, I’ll say cheerio and I’ll catch you tomorrow.