Arsenal hosts defending champions Manchester United at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon in a thrilling third-round matchup between the two most successful teams in FA Cup history.
Arsenal have won the competition a record fourteen times but the team has since fallen short of the cup since they last claimed it in 2020 while the Red Devils strive to defend the cup that they won recently due to their upset of Manchester City.
A competition that will remain close to the heart of every single Gooners all over the world, the FA cup has been Arsenal’s joy giving team the moments that are still remembered to date, starting with the Wenger’s final years hat-trick to Aubameyang masterclass against Chelsea five seasons ago.
However, the Gooners last lifted the trophy at Wembley for the FA Cup during the COVID-19 pandemic era and have not been able to deliver their best since then, being knocked out in the third and fourth round respectively in the following three seasons and were also knocked out of FA Cup at this stage for the 2023-2024 season by Liverpool.
Staying on the subject of heartbreaking eliminations, Mikel Arteta’s side head into the hunt for FA Cup glory number fifteen having undoubtedly squandered their chances of EFL Cup fame in the process, beaten 2-0 by Newcastle United in Tuesday evening’s semi-final first leg.
When Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon to their opportunities with ease, Arsenal missed myriad others to finally penetrate through the Magpies’ defense for what marked their first home loss of the season in any competition that came after a disastrous 1-1 Premier League draw to Brighton & Hove Albion.
The last time that Arteta’s side lost two games in a row at the Emirates Stadium, the second defeat in the row was the unexpected FA Cup third-round defeat to Liverpool in January last year but of course the 14 times FA Cup holders know better than anyone else how to take the cup away from the holders.
In fact, since the Portuguese took over the Red Devils a few weeks ago, Arteta has already defeated incoming visitor Ruben Amorim, and Arsenal has defeated the FA Cup-holding team in each of their last six tournament matches against the reigning champions.
Man United hasn't been playing in a winter wonderland since losing to Arsenal's set-piece prowess on that particular occasion, which has led to unironic rumors that the 20-time English champions are engaged in a relegation war with half of the season left.
However, in last weekend's 2-2 draw, the Red Devils unexpectedly took a point from dominant leaders Liverpool to start their FA Cup championship defense. Had Harry Maguire not missed a fantastic opportunity at the end of the game, Amorim's team may have emerged as the unexpected winners.
Even though Man United's performance on Merseyside was impressive, the draw extended their winless streak to five games across all competitions. During that span, they have given up at least two goals in each of their previous nine games, and Amorim's team has failed to keep a clean sheet in each of those games.
In contrast, the Red Devils have advanced from all ten of their previous FA Cup third-round games and have only lost once. The holders have also defeated Arsenal in three of their last four FA Cup meetings, including a 3-1 victory at the Emirates in 2019 in which Alexis Sanchez came back to haunt his former employers.
On the injury front, Arsenal should be as you were this weekend. Arteta will once again have to deal with the absence of four right-sided options: Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee), Ben White (knee), Ethan Nwaneri (muscle), and Bukayo Saka (hamstring).
Although there were no fresh fitness problems when Man United returned from their trip to Liverpool, wantaway forward Marcus Rashford was quickly cut from the matchday squad once more—this time because of illness rather than Amorim's expulsion.
Amorim, who has not been scared to make numerous changes from game to game, will undoubtedly be tempted to go with the same outfield formula from Anfield without Mason Mount (thigh), Victor Lindelof (unspecified), and Luke Shaw (calf).
