Manchester United are set to take on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in the fourth round of this season’s FA Cup on Friday night.
Our most recent meeting versus the Gunners ended in a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford at the beginning on December, under Jose Mourinho.
Since then, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has won all seven of his games in charge as caretaker manager and an eighth win on Friday would book our place into round five of the oldest club cup competition in football.
Arsenal manager Unai Emery will have to do it without four first team players as they are currently sidelined through injury. The North London club confirmed the following team news ahead of their clash with Manchester United:
Right-back Hector Bellerin ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during their 2-0 win over Chelsea last Saturday. The Spaniard can be expected to be out for 6-9 months as a result. This could result in youngster Ainsley Maitland-Niles filling in at right-back or the experienced Stephan Lichtsteiner getting more starts under his belt since arriving from Juventus over the summer.
Former-Manchester United Henrikh Mkhitaryan returned to full training with Arsenal this week but Friday’s game will come too soon for the Armenian to face his former club. Mkhitaryan also missed the clash at Old Trafford on 5 December through injury.
Centre-back Rob Holding is recovering from recent surgery. The Englishman had been a regular in Emery’s back three prior to this. The experienced Laurent Koscielny has returned to first team action as a result recently.
Another former United player, Danny Welbeck, has spent most of his time on the sidelines since they changed manager over the summer. The England international is not expected to be back this season and the club have already confirmed he will not be offered a new deal when his contract expires in the summer.
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