Arsenal take on Manchester United in their second pre-season friendly in the United States late on Saturday night.
The Gunners were held to a 1-1 draw by Bournemouth in the opening game of their USA tour. Mikel Arteta would’ve been pleased with a lot of things from that game, but he’d want nothing more than a win against Erik ten Hag’s side.
Arsenal named a starting eleven with a good mix of senior players and youngsters in the game against Bournemouth in the early hours of Thursday.
However, we expect Arteta to go with a much stronger starting lineup against Manchester United.
Predicted Arsenal XI vs Manchester United
Pre-season is always a great time to give younger players an opportunity, and Arteta did that when Arsenal took on Bournemouth.
The Gunners boss will likely hand more minutes to Arsenal’s academy stars against Manchester United as well, but we expect him to start strong.
Here’s how we think Arsenal will line up against Manchester United…
With David Raya and Aaron Ramsdale both still away on holiday, Karl Hein, who was the hero against Bournemouth, is expected to keep his place in goal.
Ben White is set to get another start at right-back and Jurrien Timber at right-centre-half, but we think Jakub Kiwior and Oleksandr Zinchenko will come in to make up the rest of the backline.
In the middle of the park, we expect Thomas Partey to keep his place, but Jorginho and Martin Odegaard are likely to come in to replace Salah-Eddine Oulad M’Hand and Ethan Nwaneri.
We think Fabio Vieira will get another start at right-wing following his goal against Bournemouth, but after starting on the bench in the last game, we can see Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard coming into the side against Manchester United.
Predicted Arsenal XI vs Manchester United: Hein, White, Timber, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Partey, Odegaard, Vieira, Jesus, Trossard
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Three Arsenal players have a point to prove vs Man United
Arsenal lost to Manchester United in pre-season in 2023, and although the result is meaningless, we would like that record to be set straight.
Arteta will want his side to step out and deliver, and we think three players in particular have a big point to prove against the Red Devils.
The first one is Jesus. The Brazilian had a disappointing 2023/24 campaign due to injuries. He looks a lot fitter now, and he will need to have a strong pre-season to have any chance of getting his starting spot back from Kai Havertz.
Trossard is the other Arsenal player who needs to step up. The Belgian didn’t have a great Euro 2024 and he looked really poor against Bournemouth as well. Everyone knows he can do better – we hope he shows that against Manchester United.
The last one on our list is Zinchenko. Like Jesus, the Ukraine international had a 2023/24 season to forget. There is a lot of competition at left-back now, and if he can’t step up, he may not even have a place on the bench in the upcoming campaign.
There was also a review of Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Bournemouth in their opening pre-season tour match, whilst the next steps for Edu Gaspar in the transfer market were discussed.
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