Manchester United take on Arsenal in the third round of the FA Cup, aiming to defend the title that they won on a wonderful May afternoon last year.
The Gunners and United are two of the most historic clubs in the country and they have played each other 203 times, with the Red Devils coming out on top on 85 occasions.
Arsenal have beaten United 71 times and there have been 47 draws between the two giants.
Here are three things storylines to sink your teeth into before the tie of the round.
Can Man United handle Arsenal’s set pieces?
United ran out 2-0 losers in December when they travelled to the Emirates but gave a relatively good account of themselves.
Nonetheless, both goals from the home side came from corners and in truth, United looked clueless on how to handle this side of the game.
The team went on a terrible run where they went on to concede a goal from a corner or free kick for the majority of the action-filled month.
Manager Ruben Amoirm has claimed that this issue will only be rectified with more time on the training pitch and that is what the club have received as they have had a full week’s preparation for both the Liverpool match last week and the game against the Gunners.
Whether United can upset the odds and progress through the tie could well come down to how effective they are at defending Arsenal’s corners.
A fixture rich in FA Cup tradition
United have played Arsenal 16 times in the history of the FA Cup, the second most common matchup in the competition’s history, with only Everton vs Liverpool occurring more frequently.
It stands to reason that they will have played one another so often as Arsenal have won the cup more than anybody else with 14 titles and United are right behind them in second with 13 titles.
Interestingly however, this is the first ever third round matchup between the two sides.
Due to how often they play, it will probably be no surprise to realise that “Manchester United have eliminated Arsenal from the FA Cup more than any other side in the competition’s history (8), while the Gunners have knocked out the Red Devils more than any other team (7).”
United’s impressive 3rd round record
Whilst United have been dealt a very tough hand in this season’s competition, the third round is usually characterised by Premier League sides taking on lower league teams.
“Manchester United have progressed from the third round of the FA Cup in each of the last 10 campaigns, since a 2-1 loss to Swansea City in 2013-14.”
“They’ve kept a clean sheet in nine of their initial 10 third round matches in that run” as they have put most teams to the sword.
Nonetheless, to keep this good run going, they will need to turn around their form against the Gunners; they have lost five out of their last six matches against them.
To end things on a positive note however, United did come out on top the last time the two sides met in the FA Cup, with a 3-1 win at the Emirates in 2019 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Featured image Julian Finney via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
