🕟 Kick Off: 16:30 GMT

🏟️ Venue: Emirates Stadium

📺 UK Broadcaster: Sky Sports

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Craig Pawson

📹 VAR: Paul Tierney

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Piero Hincapié: Groin/Thigh injury; Huge boost for the Gunners as he was spotted in full training today (Jan 23). Mikel Arteta has stated a final decision will be made after tomorrow’s session, but he is in contention to face Manchester United.
• Riccardo Calafiori: Muscular injury; Like Hincapié, he returned to training today after missing seven matches. He is currently being assessed to see if he can start or will begin on the bench this Sunday.
• Kai Havertz: Knee fitness; Arteta confirmed his condition needs “managing” after a recent flare-up. While he is training with the group, he is considered a doubt for a starting role but likely to be in the squad.
• Max Dowman: Ankle ligament damage; The 16-year-old remains the only definite long-term absentee. He is progressing well with an expected return in mid-February 2026.

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟩🟧🟩🟩🟧

👹 Manchester United Team News:

• Matthijs de Ligt: Back injury; Interim manager Michael Carrick confirmed he suffered a “small setback” recently. He is ruled out for the Arsenal match but is expected back in the coming weeks.
• Joshua Zirkzee: Knock; Missed the Manchester derby last weekend and has not yet returned to full training. He is ruled out for Sunday’s trip to the Emirates.
• Noussair Mazraoui: Fatigue/Assessment; Following Morocco’s defeat in the AFCON final, he is being monitored for physical exhaustion. He remains a doubt for Sunday.

⚽ Manchester United Form: 🟩🟥🟧🟧🟧

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

• Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal (August 17, 2025, Premier League)
• Manchester United 1-1 Arsenal (March 9, 2025, Premier League)
• Arsenal 1-1 Manchester United (January 12, 2025, FA Cup — United won 5-3 on penalties)
• Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United (December 4, 2024, Premier League)
• Manchester United 0-1 Arsenal (May 12, 2024, Premier League)

📖 Match Facts:

• Arsenal haven’t lost to Man United in 7 games; their last loss against United was in 2022 in a game which saw a Rashford brace and a goal from Antony.
• Arsenal are goalless in their last 2 Premier League games. They haven’t gone 3 league games without a goal since 2012.
• There have been 18 yellow cards handed out in the last three matchups between the two teams.

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

Manchester United, free of the shackles of whatever the hell Amorim was trying to do with them, look scarier now than they ever did under Amorim. They didn’t just beat Man City last week, they bullied them all over the pitch in such a way that I haven’t seem them do in years. New manager bounce? Maybe. Poor timing for Arsenal? Definitely.

Arsenal didn’t score a league goal in their last 2 games against Liverpool and Forest, and it must be said that this rejuvinated United side might be the toughest test out of the three teams. United will be riding high after their win against City, especially considering the rivalry between United and Arsenal is arguable stronger than between the two Manchester teams. Given that United took three points from City, handing us an advantage in the league, they will want to take the same three points from us.

The potential return of Calafiori and Hincapie could be huge for this game. Our left side with Timber filling in at left back has looked poor since we lost both of the left sided defenders we had been relying on this season, and with MLS struggling to find the form of last season, Arteta was forced to play Timber out of position and hope that Ben White can stay fit. If there is any chance that either of the two absentees are fit to start against United, I hope we take it. This is probably the most difficult league home game we have left, and it is vital that we take all three points out of it.

There are some figures in this squad that need to pull their socks up and start performing coming into the late stages of this league. I won’t name names, as I’m sure that everyone reading this will have differing opinions on who is and isn’t contributing enough. But when it comes to our attack, we seem to be carrying far too many passengers who are not contributing with anywhere near the amount of G/A they are producing, and this may be starting to catch up with us as shown by consecutive goalless draws.