Arsenal vs Manchester United Match Preview
Brian Moore, Jan 30th 2010
The Gunners fired blanks at Aston Villa on Wednesday and dropped to third in the league. They also took casualties. Is their aim good enough to shoot down Manchester United? United vanquished pretenders-to-the-throne Manchester City on Wednesday. Can they conquer the Londoners now too?
Arsenal took casualties both in attack and defense on Wednesday as they drew 0-0 with Aston Villa at Villa Park.
Croatian International Eduardo hobbled off with a hamstring injury and according to manager Arsene Wenger he won’t be available for Sunday’s big Premier League tie with Manchester United at Emirates Stadium.
Now back in third place, one point behind United and two behind Chelsea, a win by Arsenal could vault them back into the top spot, which they recently held ever so briefly. The injury to Eduardo, however, limits Wenger’s attacking options. The good news is that Danish International Nicklas Bendtner has returned to the squad. Abundance, however, would not be the ideal adjective to describe Arsenal’s attacking choices at the moment.
Thirty five year old Sol Campbell in the spotlight
Defensively Arsenal’s situation is more worrisome. Thomas Vermaelen, so effective in both defense 
and attack this season, was initially thought to have suffered either a broken leg or nerve damage in the match against Villa midweek. Scans, however, have revealed that the leg’s not broken. Nevertheless, the Belgian International appears to be ruled out of the match against United on Sunday.
New Old Boy Sol Campbell will deputize for Vermaelen. Although he handled himself reasonably-well in the FA Cup 4th Round loss to Stoke City last weekend, Campbell nevertheless appeared ponderous at times. Perhaps a few more reserve matches, or his cameo appearance as a sub for the injured Vermaelen in the Villa match, might have sharpened him a little. But at 35 years old its questionable how much edge remains in Sol Campbell to further sharpen.
Sol Campbell better like a challenge
Wayne Rooney banged in four goals against Hull last weekend and scored the goal that vanquished rivals Manchester City in their 2nd Leg Carling Cup tie at Old Trafford on Wednesday. He may be in better form now than ever and Campbell will have to conjure all his defensive powers if he hopes to dampen Rooney’s fire on Sunday.
Defensively Manchester United were beginning to get something of their accustomed shape back as their injured men gradually convalesced over recent weeks. Rio Ferdinand made his return in the Hull match, and Edwin van der Sar was back in the lineup on Wednesday against Manchester City.
The League thinks Ferdinand has been a naughty boy
But United received bad tidings on Thursday when the FA announced that Ferdinand was being assessed a four match ban for throwing an elbow at Hull’s Craig Fagan last weekend. Technically Ferdinand only gets three matches for the elbow; the fourth is for a frivolous appeal. This is academic, however. Ferdinand is banned so he won’t play against Arsenal on Sunday.
In the midfield Scottish International Darren Fletcher has been playing very well indeed alongside Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes and, until recently, Anderson. But Anderson’s future in Manchester may be in doubt. The Brazilian finds himself the subject of what could only be a chilly scrutiny for apparently dodging training to fly away and meet with Brazilian club Vasco da Gama. He’s not likely to play against Arsenal either.
A win on Sunday will take United to the top of the league, although Chelsea have a game in hand. The loss of Ferdinand is a setback, but United manager Sir Alex Ferguson must be licking his chops at the notion of Wayne Rooney running hard at Sol Campbell, or even United’s own geriatric, Ryan Giggs, who remains sprightly and nimble despite his advancing dotage. An Arsenal win will vault them over United, and could take them back into first place, depending on the Chelsea result. Manager Arsene Wenger can be comforted that Rio Ferdinand is out, and he’ll be counting on the creativity and firepower from his midfielders, in particular the talismanic Spaniard Cesc Fabregas, to support his forward line.
