Arsenal vs Manchester United Preview

FA Cup record holders Arsenal will welcome the current holders Manchester United to the Emirates this Sunday for what is arguably the biggest tie in this season’s third-round draw of the competition.

Both teams have 27 FA Cup titles between them, with Arsenal’s 14 titles one more than the 13 Manchester United have won. The Gunners dominated this tournament in the late 2000’s, winning four in seven seasons between the 2013/14 season and the 2019/20 season.

However, since then, they have been unable to go so far in this competition, getting knocked out in the third and fourth rounds in their last four seasons. Liverpool were the last team to knock them out of this tournament at this stage, doing so last season when they beat them 2-0 at the Emirates.

A repeat of that losing scoreline isn’t impossible, given that Arsenal have not scored when being knocked out of the FA Cup third round. The fact that Mikel Arteta’s side are winless in two games also adds more uncertainty to this game.

However, the Gunners’ record in this fixture has been great. Arteta’s side have won each of the last four games against United, keeping a clean sheet in the last two.

Still, Manchester United will fancy their chances of getting a good result in this game after putting in arguably their strongest performance this season when they drew 2-2 with Liverpool last weekend.

That result stopped a four-game losing run and ensured that the Red Devils did not go four games in a row without scoring. Their target will now be to secure their first win since mid-December and passage to the fourth round of this tournament they won last season.