Arsenal arrive at the Emirates having set the standard domestically and in Europe this season, and their campaign began with victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford in August. A second meeting offers United the chance to spoil the leaders and Arsenal the opportunity to complete a league double that would add further gloss to a very strong season.<\/p>\n
Manchester United are carrying renewed purpose after Michael Carrick\u2019s debut victory over Manchester City as interim head coach. If United match that focus in north London they will present a stern test for Mikel Arteta\u2019s side. On an afternoon of significance, three on-field battles look likely to shape the outcome.<\/p>\n
Bruno Fernandes remains United\u2019s attacking talisman. He leads the division for chances created (62) and has produced a club-high 14 goals and assists in the Premier League this term. Now operating in a more advanced role under Carrick, and deployed in the 4-2-3-1 formation used against Manchester City, Fernandes has more freedom than when functioning deeper in Ruben Amorim\u2019s 3-4-2-1 system. Standing in his way is Mart\u00edn Zubimendi. The 26-year-old summer recruit has adapted quickly to the Premier League. Mobile in the holding role, strong in distribution and tenacious defensively, Zubimendi has become integral to Arteta\u2019s setup and his duel with Fernandes will be a fixture highlight.<\/p>\n
Declan Rice has been unshackled by Zubimendi\u2019s arrival and is the organised, aggressive centre of Arsenal\u2019s midfield. Rice combines defensive acumen, endurance and an increased attacking threat; he is also mastering late box entries and set-piece delivery. Stopping him will be a difficult task for 33-year-old Casemiro, whose departure from Old Trafford at the end of the season was announced on Thursday. Casemiro\u2019s experience and positional intelligence remain an asset, but he will need assistance from Kobbie Mainoo in the double pivot.<\/p>\n
On the flank, Bukayo Saka remains a leading forward despite being below his usual output this season. He has six goal contributions in 11 past games against the Manchester giants and will be expected to start against United. Saka\u2019s likely opponent, Luke Shaw, knows him well from England duty, and that familiarity will add an extra layer to what could be a decisive wide duel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three duels to decide the Emirates: Fernandes v Zubimendi, Rice v Casemiro, Saka v Shaw. This Sunday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,179,969],"tags":[342,826,939],"class_list":["post-6222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-manchester-united","category-premier-league","tag-bruno-fernandes","tag-bukayo-saka","tag-casemiro"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}