Arsenal vs Manchester United. Premier League.
Emirates StadiumAttendance60,055.
Sunday 7 May 2017 14:07, UK
Manchester United will be aiming for a 26th consecutive unbeaten Premier League game when they travel to Arsenal on Nissan Super Sunday.
Jose Mourinho's side have set a new club record for the highest number of games without a loss in the top flight in a single season, and another this weekend would match that of Nottingham Forest in the 1977-78 season.
The signs look favourable for United as Arsene Wenger has only beaten old foe Mourinho once in his career - winning the Community Shield in 2015 - and has never done so in the Premier League (W0 D7 L5).
But Arsenal will have the advantage of no midweek game after while United beat Celta Vigo 1-0 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final on Thursday.
The Gunners are also unbeaten in their last four Premier League games at the Emirates, but will be looking to get back to winning ways after losing the north London derby last Sunday.
Mourinho plans to rest tired United players this weekend. Marcus Rashford could be one such player after he limped off against Celta and Ashley Young exited with an apparent hamstring complaint shortly after coming on.
Marouane Fellaini is banned from domestic action, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luke Shaw, Marcos Rojo and Tim Fosu-Mensah are sidelined with injuries.
For Arsenal, Granit Xhaka (ankle) will miss out but Shkodran Mustafi has returned to full training and could feature.
The Gunners will also monitor Lucas Perez (knock), while David Ospina is available following his muscle injury.
Arsenal's 3-0 victory over United at the Emirates last season is their only win in 11 Premier League games against them (D4 L6).
United haven't lost consecutive away Premier League games against Arsenal since November 2001.
Alexis Sanchez is two goals away from scoring his 50th Premier League goal for Arsenal, becoming the 8th player to do this for the Gunners.
Sanchez needs just one goal to register his best-ever return from a single campaign in Europe's big five leagues (currently on 19, tied with 2013/14 for Barcelona). However, just six of his league goals have come at home this season in the Premier League (32%) despite playing at the Emirates on 16 occasions in 2016-17.
Wayne Rooney has scored more Premier League goals against Arsenal than any other player in Premier League history (11).
This will be Arsene Wenger's 58th match as Arsenal manager against United in all competitions. It's the side the Frenchman has faced most often with the Gunners, but also the side he's got the lowest win rate against (29% - minimum of 15 games).
Arsenal are certainties in my opinion. It's all about timing at the end of the season and this game is perfect timing for the Gunners. United could win their next four Premier League games 5-0 and still finish fifth in the league.
On the other hand, they might only have to win two Europa League games to qualify for the Champions League. I don't see anything but wholesale changes for Jose Mourinho for this game.
It would be interesting to see what would happen with Mourinho's selections if Manchester City lost to Crystal Palace. It would present United with another opportunity of sneaking into the top four and while he has said he will rest players, would a negative result for City change his mind?
I don't think so. I'd be shocked if any of the big guns played at the Emirates on Sunday. The wholesale changes put severe pressure on Arsene Wenger. They will be playing a second string side in my opinion and if they can't beat an under-strength Manchester United, huge pressure will be put on the Frenchman. He would probably prefer to be playing United's first team.
I'm backing Arsenal for a big 3-0 win and before Manchester United fans go ballistic, I'm only backing that result because of my theory. If it was different I'd back the draw because Mourinho can get a draw at will.
PAUL PREDICTS: 3-0 (16/1 with Sky Bet)
Betting
Arsenal are marginally odds-on at 17/20 with Sky Bet as Manchester United go up against odds of 16/5, while the draw is priced at 13/5. Both sides are up against the odds for a top-four finish, with United 5/1 while the Arsene Wenger's side drifted out to 8/1 following their defeat to Tottenham. Alexis Sanchez heads the first goalscorer betting at 4/1 with Marcus Rashford is considered the visitors' main threat at 13/2 to net first.
