It may only be late January, but some pundits are already starting to crown Arsenal Premier League champions for this season. Their main challengers, Manchester City, look a mess right now so it’s understandable where that specific take might be coming from. However, there is still lots of season left to run, and their margin at the top is seven, not 15 or 20, or anything like that.
Up next is a visit from Manchester United, and they will be challenge, most likely. Look what they just did to City, in the derby last weekend
Manchester United at Arsenal FYIs
Kickoff: Sunday, January 25, 4:30pm, Emirates Stadium, London, UK
Team News: Manchester United Arsenal
Google’s Result Probability: Manchester United win 18% Draw 23% Arsenal win 59%
Arsenal Team News vs Man United
The Gunners emerged unscathed from injury in the midweek continental competition win over Inter Milan. Therefore, the availability/unavailability situation remains the same.
Riccardo Calafiori, Piero Hincapie and Max Dowman are the only absentees. So with that in mind, it’s time to look at the predicted starting lineup. Basically, there is some squad rotation here from the first team that beat Inter on Tuesday night.
And it’s mostly the guys you expect, and at the positions you would expect.
Arsenal Predicted Starting XI vs Manchester United
David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Myles Lewis-Skelly; Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Martin Odegaard; Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyokeres, Gabriel Martinelli
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, RG.org and Ratings.org. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes and the Washington Post.