of Manchester United defend FA Cup One of the toughest games they could have asked for begins on Sunday afternoon, away to Arsenal.
The Emirates Stadium is home to two of the most successful clubs in FA Cup history. United will be looking to right some of the mistakes of the Gunners, who have recently beaten them in the Premier League.
Manchester United’s impressive win in the 2023/24 FA Cup was a positive development in a poor season for the team. They beat local rivals Manchester City 2-0 at Wembley thanks to goals from Alejandro Ganaccio and Kobe Mainu.
Before defending their crown, Manchester United team news The trip to north London was announced just days before the game.
Team news for Manchester United vs Arsenal
most concerned about Ruben Amorim Unlike Manchester United, star Amad Diallo may miss the game after suffering a minor knock. attacker, who just signed a new deal There is no guarantee of his recovery at Old Trafford, but Amorim explained that he hopes the Ivorian will be available.
Several Manchester United players were confirmed to be unavailable over the weekend. Two of them are defenders Victor Lindelof and Jonny Evans, with Amorim confirming that the pair of centre-backs are still unable to recover in time.
England team-mates Luke Shaw and Mason Mount will also miss the Emirates Stadium game. Both have been out for several weeks, with Shaw last appearing against Everton on December 1 and Mount away to Manchester City in the same month.
As for Marcus Rashford, he missed last weekend’s away game against Liverpool at Anfield due to illness. His future remains up in the airBritons are not included in the Emirates trip.
with Rashford Dequeue Rasmus Hojlund or Joshua Zirkzee are once again candidates to lead this team. Dutch might be a good choice.
Why Zirkzee could start against Arsenal
Life at Old Trafford has not been easy for Zirkzee so far. He showed talent at times and never stopped working hard, but wasn’t treated particularly well by the fans.
It was a terrible moment during a Premier League game against Newcastle United when he was booed by fans in the Old Trafford stands.
That being said, he’s had some pretty solid performances so far in that famous redshirt. He has four goals and two assists in 28 gameshis best performance came in the 4-0 win over Everton. On that day, the 23-year-old scored twice in a brilliant performance.
Zirkzee won the 2020 Champions League with Bayern Munich and won the Serie A Young Player of the Year award for Bologna last season.
his Statistics on Sofascore Showing his outstanding performance, the attacker scored and assisted 15 times, created 11 great chances and won 4.1 duels per game. There is a reason Football statistician Statman Dave describes him As a “serious talent”.
Zirkzee’s Serie A statistics for the 2023/24 season |
|
---|---|
Statistics |
number |
Goals and assists |
15 |
expected goals |
9.01 |
conversion rate |
13% |
created huge opportunities |
11 |
Key passes in every game |
1.3 |
Number of dribbles completed per game |
.51 |
Number of duels won per game |
4.1 |
Statistics come from Sofa Rating |
Interestingly, Arsenal wanted to sign the striker before Manchester United snapped up him last summer. According to Sky Sportswho were said to be “monitoring developments closely”, but he ended up at Old Trafford.
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If Zirkzee starts this afternoon, he could hurt Arsenal. He is an intelligent forward who is good at dropping deep to link up play and create space for his teammates.
He is not someone who will get physical with William Saliba and Gabriel, which is a plus for United because if he drags his teammates out of position he can bring them into the game.
While United fans may not have seen the best of Zirkzee yet, he has shown what he is capable of at times. Heading to the Emirates Stadium to defend the FA Cup trophy is the perfect place for him to repeat a performance like the one he produced against Everton and hurt the club who wanted to sign him last summer.