Arsenal v Man U preview

Arsenal face Manchester United this afternoon at The Emirates, live on Sky Sports HD from 15:30.
Arsenal suffered defeat to Olympiakos midweek but beat Leicester 5-2 last weekend.
Manchester United beat Wolfsburg midweek and beat Sunderland 3-0 last weekend.
A win for Arsenal will see them move level on points with their opponents. An away win will move Man Utd top of the league by a point from Man City.

Team news:

Arsenal are without Koscielny, Arteta and Flamini. Oliver Giroud returns however from his European ban.
Michael Carrick could return from injury but Ander Herrera is a doubt.

Key battles:

Cech v De Gea – The experienced stopper will undoubably start and will be key in stopping the usually clinical United forwards. De Gea on the other side is arguably the best in the world at the moment so it may come down to has the best day.

Sanchez v Mata – the key creative cogs for both sides. After a slow start Sanchez is getting back to his best. His hattrick v Leicester highlights this. Like Sanchez, Mata offers goals and assists so it is vital Arsenal keep him quiet.

Ozil v Rooney – Sadly for both teams these players under perform more often than not but are both game changers or match winners when at peak powers. This is a big game for the United captain with a real argument for Mata to play behind Martial and Young on the wing.

Prediction:

I think Arsenal will rue some missed chances with United winning 2-1.