What I want to see against Manchester United

After watching our friendly game against Bournemouth the other day, I think Mikel Arteta might want to mix things up again. Fabio Vieira scored a stunning volley to put Arsenal in front, but scores were drawn level in the 73rd minute when Bournemouth managed to bag a goal back. Arsenal then went on to win on penalties, but it was a good showing for our lads first pre-season game on the USA Tour.

We now get set to face off against Manchester United who have had two pre-season games already and might look at this game as one where they won’t want to mix things up too much. They could use it to start preparing their players for the new season as they have the community shield against Manchester City coming up. So although I don’t expect Arteta to do the same, I would expect Erik Ten Hag to come out swinging and play a lot of his first team players.

For us, I think we will do more of the same from the game against Bournemouth, a mix of youth projects and first team players, giving the younger players a chance to impress and shine and not overdoing it for the first team players. We have to be careful in this pre-season to not let anyone get injured, but also to prepare them for what is going to be another extremely busy season.

Players like Nketiah and Vieira will no doubt get some minutes as Arsenal look likely to sell them this summer and having them play minutes will hopefully boost their worth in the transfer market. This will also be another chance for Timber and a few others to get used to the swing of things and the systems that Arteta likes to play.

It’s a friendly match so honestly the results don’t matter in the long scheme of things, but because it’s Manchester United, we always want to win. They have been fierce rivals for years and although they have had a decline in performances, while we’ve been improving, it’s still always a tough game and both sides always put 100% on the pitch and want to win.

Hopefully we get to see a few of the youngsters shine give Arteta a bit to think about, I’ve been very critical lately of the way the youth aren’t being presented much of a pathway into the first team and pre-season is the perfect time to change that.

Hopefully everyone stays fit and healthy and we can get the win over the red side of Manchester and give the squad even more confidence going forward.

What’s your thoughts Gooners?

Daisy Mae