HISTORY AWAITS A HERO

CAN ONE OF THE BOYS STEP UP IN A FIXTURE THAT USUALLY CORRELATES GREAT MANCHESTER UNITED MOMENTS WITH ARSENAL EPL WINS

OK, so my powers of manifestation combined with prediction could not take us to the promised land of a 0-0 draw for Manchester City and Wolves. We can’t be greedy out here, can we?

But that doesn’t mean Saturday was banter-free. Spurs could only manage a draw against Burnley, and Liverpool lost to a very troubled Bournemouth who stole their dreams of a point in the 95th minute (what did I tell you about VVD dropping off if Liverpool had a down season? He’s been TERRIBLE). Delicious. We also didn’t talk about the very strange meltdown Unai Emery had in the Europa League where he seemed to go off at Tielemans as the midfielder was pulled off late in the game.

Pressure is getting to everyone, leaving the Arsenal vs United game feeling less secure for me personally. The psychological tipping point for me (knowing I don’t matter) is that after this weekend, we’re at an official countdown point. 15 more Premier League games. That feels real. Like, if someone said you only had 15 more days to live, you’d feel that was not a lot of time… and I’m going to be dramatic here, this Premier League season feels like there’s as much jeopardy. Honestly, what are we going to do if it doesn’t happen this year? Have you made a plan? How will you live your life normally? I can’t imagine it, honestly, I just can’t.

No one does catastrophizing quite like us - and I’m no exception. I’m looking for reasons not to fall in love with the idea of a good result today. For starters, I didn’t really like hearing Arteta talk about why he signed Gyokeres over Sesko. It felt like a rare slip when he added “he’s a proper 9” because that’s the sort of thing that ends up as dressing room fodder.

Arteta was asked about fan nerves and he was quite pointed: don’t be a bunch of bitches was the gist.

It is not about calming. It is about continuing to do what we are doing really well and try to evolve every single day to be better. So, from their side, it is continuing to do what they do in the stadium; create more energy, more positiveness around the games in each action, and if we do that and we create that kind of a scenario, we are going to make it more and more difficult to the opponent, and that is going to help us to win more games.

Home games are our advantage in the backend of the season and this is a game we’re going to need fans sauced, noisy, and unapologetically aggressive when it comes to support. Sometimes in these big Sunday games, the noise can dip, you can hear the groans, and the whole thing feels a little tense. Hopefully, it’s not one of those afternoons tomorrow.

United don’t have a lot going for them generally. It’s an overpowered wage bill and an underpowered system. Their approach to signing players hasn’t followed a singular pattern for longer than 18 months in about 10 years. Pre-Amorim, they were signing players who could fit into any idea; last summer, they invested £200m in an idea that no one at the club believed in.

The product makes no sense. Like in 1912, the wallpaper cleaning company Kutol realised their soft pliable material for wiping walls clean of soot wasn’t the hit it used to be. They were close to shutting down. So what happened? They brought in a caretaker innovator (sister-in-law of the owner) who saw potential in the putty as a child’s toy. Play-Doh was invented, selling 3 billion units. The product was the same, just reimagined. Carrick looks like the sister-in-law who rescued Kutol. The idea he has is just as simple: let the boys play, give them belief, and see what happens — and they did exactly that and WALLOPED Man City. We can’t let this sort of thinking be an undeserved hit. We have to be the corpo naysayers in the room who snuff out the spark of a good idea by communicating the dull market realities of a team that can sap joy out of a colorful pot of moldable wallpaper cleaner.

I tried really hard to make that story work and really, if I had an editor, this would have been cut. But, you needed to know that Play-doh story for your fancy dinner parties with the colorful cheese and illegal mushroom oils.

Outside of De Ligt and Zirkzee, they have a fully fit squad to choose from.

That line-up is about as sexy as a totalled Toyota Prius - it lacks speed and power in midfield, Martinez is a tiny human against set-piece bullies, and a nightmare as a centre-back. Luke Shaw and Dalot have their moments at full-back, but they aren’t special. The keeper is barely an upgrade on André Onana. But with United, it’s always about their attackers, and Mbeumo and Fernandes tend to create a lot of magic on a consistent basis. Cunha and Sesko are both capable of moments. Even Mason Mount has a madness in him occassionally.

Whilst I do always worry about defending, that is our special sauce this season, and we’re more than capable of keeping a clean sheet at home.

Attack? That’s where the issues have been. It’s hard to doubt what Gabriel Jesus gave to our forward line against an Inter Milan side who came to play football. He should start, but Arteta is stubborn, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see Gyokeres given another go at home. We score more set-piece goals with him in the side, and United are going to struggle on that side tomorrow.

Our midfield picks itself, and I don’t see past Declan, Zubi, and Odegaard. The question then is whether Arteta will take risks with his left-backs. Hincapie and Calafiori are back in training, but you’d imagine it’s too soon for the Italian. But the man from Ecuador? He could feature. He hasn’t been out that long. I’m struggling to see Myles getting a start, so if none of the new options are back, it’s Ben White and Timber again. Saliba and Gabriel in the middle.

I’m not sure how United are going to approach this. It’s worth remembering they’ve had a whole week to practice their plan for Arsenal. Will Carrick go all out for an attacking war? Take a gamble in a game that’s a bit of a free hit for him. Or will he revert back to the negative football most teams bring to the Emirates? 5 across the back, look to hit Mbeumo, Cunha, or Sesko on the break?

Carrick should come and play it safe, but he’s part of that old-school United crowd who think the club has an ordained style of playing and that anything sensible is wet-handshake football. I wouldn’t be shocked to see him just try an absolute madness to slap us up… that’d be the ideal for me. That team isn’t built to slug with Arsenal.

Whatever happens, it’ll be exciting. This is an iconic match, and whenever we have good Premier League seasons, we have big moments against United. I’m thinking about Thierry Henry setting himself up against Barthez. Marc Overmars bobbling his shot through Schmeichel’s legs. Or David Platt with the glancing header. This is a game for heroes. Men who want to meet the moment. It’s a history-making afternoon that no one can take away from you… who is going to step up?

We’ll find out very, very soon.

Just before we go, Ethan Nwaneri made his debut for Marseille, and he dazzled in what looked like a central midfield role based on the comps I was watching. He was linking play, charging through the middle of the field with adventurous ball carries, and he popped up with one of his trademark low strikes into the bottom corner. A great start to his career. Brilliant to see him get on so soon, and even better to see that he is clearly going to do very well.

Oh, you heard the gossip? Yeah, we are a serious community these days. The Arsenal Opinion landed some quotes in The FT, please click this link, take a read, and write to the Editor to say you very specifically enjoyed my quotes. Thank you!

Stay warm and safe today for all those caught in the eye of the storm.

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