Arsenal make the trip up to Old Trafford tonight (Wednesday) with a real swagger in their step following the weekend’s compelling come-from-behind 4-2 victory over rivals Tottenham.
The win not only propelled the Gunners above their North London neighbours into fourth spot but extended their stunning unbeaten run to 19 matches in all competitions, and the in-form capital club will now be quietly confident of swatting away the challenge of a mundane Man Utd, who have slipped down to eighth in the table.
In fact, United could even end the night an alarming 11 points adrift of the top-four, after only 15 matches, while a defeat would leave Jose Mourinho’s prospects of remaining on as manager increasingly bleak, with Zidane Zidane said to be waiting in the wings.
Arsenal suffered consecutive league defeats in their opening games under Unai Emery, but have since bounced back with 30 points from a subsequent 14 game unbeaten streak. The Gunners have already won as many games on the road (four) as the whole of last season, scoring 16 goals - only Spurs have recorded more goals away from home but they’ve played three more games.
Arsenal have been a pleasure to watch at times this season, radiating a new found resilience, tenacity, and ruthlessness, which had been absent in the latter stages of Arsene Wenger’s tenure.
However, under replacement Emery, Arsenal have remarkably not yet led at half-time this season, which leads us on to this tasy bet.
That’s right, in 14 Premier League matches Emery has yet to go in at the break with the upper hand. His troops have been in a losing position on three occasions, and level a whopping 11 times, but have not yet been leading at the interval.
But on the 11 occasions that Arsenal were level with their opponents at half-time, they would go on to grab the spoils nine times, including in their last outing against Spurs, highlighting just how effective Emery’s half-time team talks have been.
With that in mind, Arsenal represent a cracking bet at 13/2 (Betfred) to beat United in this manner, while they can be backed at 25/1 to be losing at the break, but storm back to claim the win come the final whistle.
Arsenal have scored at least twice in all six of their away league games this season, and have 23 second-half goals to their name - United have only 22 goals in 14 matches - and the visitors will fancy their chances of breaking down a wobbly defence that has already conceded 23 goals, more than Brighton, Wolves, and Newcastle. Especially with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in such fine form, the striker has a league-high 10 goals to his name, and he is well worth a look at 11/2 to open
