A lot of people will expect Jose Mourinho to shut up shop because he always does away from home against the best teams, but this game is different for him in my eyes.
He knows his side have to win with Manchester City at home to West Ham, so it is not a game where he can think a draw is not the end of the world. He has to make a statement.
Manchester United have scored one goal in their past 10 matches away against the big six under Mourinho. That tells you everything. They have really struggled to create chances and score goals against the best teams in the division on the road.
But Mourinho has got to get to that derby game against City at Old Trafford on Sunday December 10 thinking, ‘If we win we can close the gap’. If United lose at Arsenal, the derby becomes a freebie for City, because the gap at the top will be so big.
So Mourinho has a choice to make. He can stick to his beliefs and go with that pragmatic view that being hard to beat away from home is the best way to go against teams with quality. But if they want to stay with City, they have to be more on the front foot than against Chelsea and Liverpool this season.
United went man-for-man at Watford on Tuesday and it paid dividends because they were 3-0 up at half-time. I do not expect them to do that again against Arsenal. Mourinho will be a bit cuter than that, but it is not necessarily a bad thing to let Arsenal come onto you.
Liverpool dropped off earlier in the season, let Arsenal come onto them and kept hitting them on the break. United have got players like Marcus Rashford Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard who can do that.
I do not think Arsenal can play any other way than to try to dominate and score goals. That will suit United and their pace on the counter. There are areas on the pitch where United will think they can overrun Arsenal. How are Granit Xhaka and Aaron Ramsey going to deal with Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba or Lingard if he plays in that No10 role?
Arsenal have done better recently, and if they win the game, after beating Tottenham and Burnley, they will have some momentum over the Christmas period.
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Their performance against Spurs was high-energy, they did not let them breathe and had confidence in what they were trying to do.
They have had some consistency with the line-up in recent weeks, which helps. And also Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil have both shown a fantastic attitude in many respects. They are both going to be leaving at the end of the season, but Sanchez especially in recent weeks has been playing like he always has and like it means something to him.
It has made Arsenal a lot better. That is infectious and rubs off on everybody. Now they can have a go at United with a bit of confidence.
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