{"source_url": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng", "url": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/epl-gunners-red-devils-face-off-in-london/", "title": "EPL: Gunners, Red Devils face off in London", "top_image": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Mikel-Arteta.jpg", "meta_img": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Mikel-Arteta.jpg", "images": ["data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20300%20250'%3E%3C/svg%3E", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/themes/jnews/assets/img/jeg-empty.png", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Train-7-FID-Online-Banner-e1577909381887.jpg", "data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20350%20250'%3E%3C/svg%3E", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/NNPC-oilandgasreport.jpg", "data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20300%20300'%3E%3C/svg%3E", "data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%200%200'%3E%3C/svg%3E", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/CBN-Advert.gif", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/image963028.jpg", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Come-with-your-colors-300x300.png", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/300-x-250-banner-Ad.jpg", "data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%201020%20365'%3E%3C/svg%3E", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Buhari_trips.jpg", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/The-perfect-match.jpeg", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Logo-of-The-Eagle-Online.png", "data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20612%20792'%3E%3C/svg%3E", "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Mikel-Arteta.jpg"], "movies": [], "text": "Arsenal vs. Man United\n\nVenue: Emirates Stadium\n\nKick off: 9PM\n\nThe New Year gets underway in style as Arsenal and Manchester United renew hostilities with the latest chapter in arguably the most enduring and defining rivalry of the Premier League era.\n\nFar from the peak of the 1990s and early 2000s, though, both sides enter the new decade sitting outside the top four and looking to rediscover their past glories under the leadership of a former player.\n\nThere is no getting away from the fact that fixtures between Arsenal and Manchester United are a far cry from their heyday, but in Mikel Arteta and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer there are now two men in charge who know all about this contest.\n\nSolskjaer played when the rivalry was at its fiercest and most ferocious, while Arteta faced United more often than he did any other club during his playing career, not to mention his more recent ties with their local rivals Manchester City.\n\nArteta is now in the position of having to mastermind victory against the foe he knows so well, and there would be few sweeter opponents for him to get his first win as Arsenal boss against.\n\nThe Spaniard has certainly brought about an improvement from the Gunners since his appointment, at least in terms of performances if not results.\n\nJust one point from his opening two games is not the return he would have wanted, but the displays have been encouraging and the players appear to have bought into his demand for a greater work ethic and structure.\n\nIt looked for a long time as though he would pick up a maiden victory in his first home game at the helm, with Arsenal the better side for much of Sunday\u2019s London derby with Chelsea, only for a howler from Bernd Leno to gift the Blues a route back into the match as they pulled off a dramatic late turnaround to win 2-1.\n\nSuch costly individual errors are perhaps the priority for Arteta to stamp out if Arsenal are to begin building any sort of consistency, with the Gunners ending 2019 by winning just one of their final 15 games across all competitions and one of their last 12 in the league.\n\nIt is an unforgivable run of form for a club of Arsenal\u2019s stature, and that is not even the most damning statistic; the North Londoners have now lost four consecutive home games for the first time in 60 years, including three in a row in the league for the first time since 1977, while they have conceded at least twice in each of their last five matches at the Emirates \u2013 their worst such run since 1965.\n\nThe wait for a victory at the Emirates now stretches back seven games to October \u2013 their longest streak since 1995 \u2013 and only five teams have picked up fewer points in front of their own fans in the league this season.\n\nSunday\u2019s defeat means that they have now lost as many home league games in their last three outings as they had in their previous 37, and worryingly such stats go on and on.\n\nAll of that has contributed to Arsenal beginning 2020 in 12th place and just six points clear of the relegation zone, with 11 points separating them from the final Champions League spot despite those above them also having struggled for consistency this season.\n\nThe Gunners were 14 points better off at the same stage of last season, whereas at the start of the last decade they were still challenging for the Premier League title \u2013 something they are a whopping 31 points off doing right now.\n\nThat said, the theme of the mighty falling by no means applies to just Arsenal; this would have been a top-two battle at the beginning of the 2010s, but now you could add Arsenal and United\u2019s points together and they would only be level with league leaders Liverpool.\n\nUnited have at least been better than Arsenal this season, and they ended 2019 in promising fashion with wins over Newcastle United and Burnley helping to make up for their shock defeat at Watford just before Christmas.\n\nConsistency has been a major issue for the Red Devils and they have not won three consecutive league games for almost a year, but they have also only lost one of their last nine matches and have been beaten the same number of times as champions Manchester City this term.\n\nIndeed, only Liverpool picked up more points than United over the last six games of 2019, helping them to close the gap on the Champions League places to four points.\n\nThe Red Devils have a difficult start to the New Year with Arsenal, Wolverhampton Wanderers twice, Man City twice, Liverpool and Chelsea to come in their first nine games of 2020, although it is those matches which have showcased the best of Solskjaer\u2019s side so far this season.\n\nUnited have beaten the likes of Man City, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Leicester City, as well as being the only team to take points off Liverpool, yet they have lost to Crystal Palace, West Ham United, Newcastle United, Bournemouth, Astana and Watford.\n\nIt is a damning indictment of Arsenal that many will consider them closer to the second batch of teams rather than the first right now, but the occasion and history of this rivalry could be enough to generate the big game fever which United seem to relish.\n\nSolskjaer\u2019s side will certainly need that away from home over the coming months considering that their next five away games see them travel to Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton and Tottenham.\n\nRight now this trip to the Emirates looks like the easiest of the lot, although they will expect Arsenal to be much better than they have been for the most part in front of their own fans this season as Arteta once again goes in search of his first win.\n\nArsenal possible XI: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Luiz, Saka, Xhaka, Torreira, Nelson, Ozil, Aubameyang, Lacazette.\n\nMan U possible XI: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, Fred, Matic, Greenwood, Pogba, Rashford, Martial.", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": ["london", "Mikel Arteta", "Manchester United", "Ole Gunnar Solskjaer"], "authors": [], "publish_date": "Wed Jan  1 11:31:22 2020", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TEO-icon-55x55.png", "meta_data": {"viewport": "width=device-width, initial-scale=1, user-scalable=yes", "theme-color": "#cc0000", "msapplication-navbutton-color": "#cc0000", "apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style": "#cc0000", "og": {"type": "article", "title": "EPL: Gunners, Red Devils face off in London", "site_name": "The Eagle Online", "description": "Arsenal vs. Man United Venue: Emirates Stadium Kick off: 9PM The New Year gets underway in style as Arsenal and", "url": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/epl-gunners-red-devils-face-off-in-london/", "locale": "en_US", "image": {"identifier": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Mikel-Arteta.jpg", "height": 409, "width": 615}}, "article": {"published_time": "2020-01-01T11:31:22+00:00", "modified_time": "2020-01-01T11:31:22+00:00", "section": "Football", "tag": "Ole Gunnar Solskjaer"}, "twitter": {"card": "summary_large_image", "title": "EPL: Gunners, Red Devils face off in London", "description": "Arsenal vs. Man United Venue: Emirates Stadium Kick off: 9PM The New Year gets underway in style as Arsenal and", "url": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/epl-gunners-red-devils-face-off-in-london/", "image": {"src": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Mikel-Arteta.jpg", "width": 615, "height": 409}}, "generator": "Powered by WPBakery Page Builder - drag and drop page builder for WordPress.", "fb": {"pages": 245777418823519}, "msapplication-TileImage": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/TEO-icon.png"}, "canonical_link": "https://theeagleonline.com.ng"}