Arsenal vs Manchester United.....Mother Of all Battles

Match Schedule:
Match Between: Manchester United vs Arsenal
Tournament: English FA Cup Football
Date: Saturday, March 12, 2011
Time: 17:15 GMT
Venue: Old Trafford

Manchester United (Possible, 4-4-2): Lindergaard; Rafael, Smalling, Brown, Evra; Obertan, Gibson, Scholes, Giggs; Berbatov, Rooney.

Arsenal (Possible, 4-2-3-1): Almunia; Clichy, Kosclielny, Djourou; Denilson, Wilshere; Nasri, Diaby, Arshavin; Chamakh.
Referee: Chris Foy. Matches: 25. R1 Y55.

Two down, two to go. After losing the Carling Cup final, Arsenal are now out of the Champions League – but they can still win the coveted league and FA Cup double. Arsène Wenger was shattered by the Tuesday night defeat in Spain where they lost Robin van Persie to a red card – the 83rd during his managerial reign – and lost 3-1 in Nou Camp and 4-3 on aggregate to Barcelona.

Arsenal travel to Old Trafford after winning just two games in their last six in all competitions. Those victories came against Stoke, in the Barclays Premier League, and Leyton orient, in the FA Cup.

Getting to the quarter-finals has not been simple for Wenger and his season; they needed a replay against Leeds and Leyton Orient. And against Huddersfield they needed an own goal and late penalty to beat the League One side.

United, though, have had an easier passage, winning all three ties at the first attempt and conceding just one goal. After beating Liverpool, with an early Ryan Giggs penalty, they won 2-1 at Southampton and then rode a small storm before overcoming non-league Crawley Town.

United will be without Nani, who suffered a gashed leg in the 3-1 defeat at Liverpool, while Michael Owen, Ji-Sung Park, Owen Hargreaves, Jonny Evans and Antonio Valencia are missing while Rio Ferdinand (calf) remains a doubt.

Arsenal, meanwhile, will be without Alex Song, Theo Walcott, Lukasz Fabianski, Thomas Vermaelen and Emmanuel Frimpong while goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny damaged his hand in Barcelona and would have been rested anyway.

And Cesc Fabregas has also been ruled out after suffering a recurrence of his hamstring injury.

Previous FA Cup Meetings

• 1906, Rd 4: Man Utd 2 Arsenal 3
• 1937, Rd 4: Arsenal 5 Man Utd 0
• 1951, Rd 5: Man Utd 1 Arsenal 0
• 1962, Rd 4: Man Utd 1 Arsenal 0
• 1979, Final: Arsenal 3 Man Utd 2
• 1983, Semi-Final: Man Utd 2 Arsenal 1
• 1988, Rd 5: Arsenal 2 Man Utd 1
• 1999, Semi-Final: Arsenal 0 Man Utd 0 aet
• 1999, Semi-Final Replay: Arsenal 1 Man Utd 2 aet
• 2003, Rd 5: Man Utd 0 Arsenal 2
• 2004, Semi-Final: Arsenal 0 Man Utd 1
• 2005, Final: Arsenal 0 Man Utd 0 aet. Arsenal won on pens.
• 2008, Rd 5: Man Utd 0 Arsenal 4

Routes To Quarter-Final

United

• Rd 3: Liverpool (h) W 1-0
• Rd 4: Southampton (a) W 2-1
• Rd 5: Crawley (h) W 1-0

Arsenal

• Rd 3: Leeds (h) D 1-1
• Rd 3 Replay: Leeds (a) W 3-1
• Rd 4: Huddersfield (h) W 2-1
• Rd 5: L Orient (a) D 1-1
• Rd 5 Replay: L Orient (h) W 5-0

Stat of the game: United have won five and drawn one of the last six against Arsenal and last lost at home to their close rivals in September 2006, in the Barclays Premier League.

Topping the League

As this is the FA Cup we’re talking about, we have to start by mentioning the EPL. If you’ve been hiding under a rock you might not know that the English Premier League is now a two horse race and the horses in question are Manchester United and Arsenal.

At present there are three points and three goals separating the two sides, but the London club have a game in hand. This means that this FA Cup round will have greater relevance than the semi-final place on offer. Bet on a hard game with plenty of action, decided by the thinnest of margins. There’s a great rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester United and (as it was forLiverpool) a victory over such a rival could be the high point of the season, especially if you knock them out of a Cup.

For a meeting between two of the biggest clubs in the EPL, it should all be about the football and the playing of the beautiful game, but you can bet that most of the column inches on Sunday will be about the rivalry between the two clubs, which is something akin to Godzilla V Hedorah.

Questioning the Officials

Both clubs feel let down by referees this season: Man Utd have been typically forward in their condemnation of the perceived lack of fairness they have received from match officials; and Arsenal can claim that it was a referee who knocked them out of the Champions' League after Robin Van Persie was sent off shortly after half-time in the last 16, second-leg defeat (his second bookable offence was a shot at goal after being ruled offside).

At the time of Van Persie's departure from the pitch, the score was 1-1, and had it stayed that way Arsenal would have gone through 3-2 on aggregate. But down to ten men, the Gunners struggled and finally went out 4-3 on aggregate. Even before that, on March 5th, Arsene Wenger openly felt “let down” when two decisions by referee Anthony Taylor and his officials went against Arsenal (resulting in a draw with Sunderland, and the loss of two vital premiership points).

As for Man Utd, they seem to be on the brink of declaring all-out war with the FA and its officials. Following a “questionable” decision at Stamford Bridge Man Utd and their manager Alex Ferguson have frozen relations with all referees and the British media, resulting in a news “blackout” following their last match against Liverpool. Any decisions that don’t go the Red Devils’ way will only chill this cold war further.

Both clubs looking to improve on recent results

Arsenal may have a bad run to halt (having been knocked out of both the Carling Cup final and the last 16 of the Champions League) but United are suffering their own dip in form and will be looking to bounce back from two consecutive league defeats (by the aforementioned Chelsea and Liverpool). Even the supremely self-assured Alex Ferguson, seems less confident these days of his team's chances, speaking of their London rivals in more cautious terms than usual, “Last season they faded around the February to March period to leave Chelsea and ourselves in a two-horse race that saw us pipped at the post by a point, but Arsene Wenger and his players have rearranged the pecking order somewhat to come storming through to lie in second place.” He seems to expect a tight match, so check out bets on a draw or a close run game.

On Saturday, United will again be missing the injured Rio “follow me on Twitter” Ferdinand, but Nemanja Vidic (sorely missed when United faced Liverpool) returns to the centre of their defence after the suspension he incurred against Chelsea.

Arsenal have now gone six years without a trophy (their last piece of silverware was the 2005 FA Cup), so they will be throwing plenty at the Red Devils. That, together with the fact that they are now out of the Champions League and no longer in the running for the League Cup could even spur the Gunners on to a momentous victory). However Arsenal will have to do it the hard way as they will be without their talisman in the middle, Cesc Fabregas. This should make Manchester United the favorites in the soccer odds, but I can see the Gunners getting the better of the Red Devils.

All-in-all, bet on a cracking and vicious game, bookings aplenty, and a few goals.

Prediction: Arsenal are due a win but it’s going to be tough, 3-2.