Football Update on iSport: Manchester United vs. Arsenal. Usually, that's enough said!
Epic encounters have always followed these two stalwarts of English football like a shadow, ever since Arsene Wenger took over at Highbury in 1996. The animosity reached its peak in the early years of the millennium, fuelled by those run-of-the-mill tunnel-brawls between the two captains.
But the atmosphere has certainly mellowed down over the past few years, one of the reasons being the eventual retirement of those hot-blooded players. However, a part of the blame also lies with Wenger's side, which has failed to reproduce that "invincible" form that we were used to.
The emergence of Chelsea as a major title contender/winner in the recent past has taken some of the thunder off a United-Arsenal clash, and we may not get to see the same Roy Keane vs. Patrick Vierra slugfest anymore, but this is still one of the most noted fixtures in the English footballing calendar and has a heightened significance this time around what with the two teams being table-toppers.
United's Patrice Evra has already reignited the fire calling Arsenal an "Academy" that wins nothing. Arsene Wenger chose a more humble approach by not reacting to it, well, at least not like one would have expected him to.
Manchester United will look to wrestle back the top-of-the-league status that they recently occupied, but had to relinquish due to their postponed fixture last week. United lie one point behind the Gunners with a game in-hand.
However, even a point wouldn't make for bad reading for the Red Devils with Chelsea extending their winless streak in the Barclays Premier League to five games, with Sunday's 1-1 draw at Tottenham.
The full three points would be of greater value to the Gunners, who can cement their position at the top with a win.
Arsenal will be hoping they have their talismanic captain Cesc Fabregas back for the game, who is subject to a late fitness test. Kieran Gibbs is out after injuring his ankle against Partizan Belgrade, but Gael Clichy (virus) and Johan Djourou (thigh) should travel to Old Trafford.
Sir Alex Ferguson will be smacking his lips at the prospect of having an almost full-strength squad to choose from, with Paul Scholes (groin) and Rio Ferdinand (hamstring) both returning. The United squad will also have the fresher set of legs after having last weekend off due to the big freeze.
Match Facts:
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1. Wayne Rooney scored in both PremierLeaguemeetings against Arsenal last season, and has scored seven goals in 16league games against the Gunners in total.
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2. Ten out of Dimitar Berbatov's 11 goals this season have come playing alongside Wayne Rooney.
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3. In the last nine home games against Arsenal in the PremierLeague, United have either scored twice or not at all.
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4. Arsenal have picked up 17 points on the road this season, the best away record in the PremierLeague.
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5. Arsenal have conceded a penalty in four of their last seven PremierLeaguevisits to Old Trafford.
Possible Starting XI:
United: Van der Sar, Rafael, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Fletcher, Scholes, Park, Berbatov, Rooney
Arsenal: Fabianski, Sagna, Squillaci, Koscielny, Clichy, Arshavin, Djourou, Song, Nasri, Wilshere, Van Persie, Chamakh
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