Manchester United’s Inconsistent Form a Worry, Warns Gary Neville Before Arsenal Tie
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Gary Neville, a former player for Manchester United, has cautioned the Red Devils not to perform below par in their forthcoming match against Arsenal. The Gunners and Erik ten Hag’s team will square off on September 3 at the Emirates.
In the 2023–24 Premier League season, United has had a difficult start. On August 19, they were brutally defeated by Tottenham Hotspur, 2-0. Despite two wins over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest, they haven’t played well overall.
Gary Neville: "Arsenal will go back to the basics of 4-3-3 [after Fulham struggle]. Manchester United are decent on the counter-attack but it is a big test for them.
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‘Their performances so far this season have been below par. If you’re below par at the Emirates you will get… pic.twitter.com/hasLyxDbdi
The forthcoming matchup between Manchester United and Arsenal, in Neville’s opinion, will be a crucial test for them. He also noted that their performances during this campaign have fallen short of expectations.
On Sky Sports, the Englishman said: “Manchester United are decent on the counter-attack but it is a big test for them. Their performances so far this season have been below par. If you’re below par at the Emirates you will get beaten. United have to rise and raise their game, but Arsenal need to sort themselves out too.”
The Red Devils have played three games and are presently ranked eighth in the Premier League, one point below the top four.
In contrast, Ten Hag’s team excelled throughout the 2022–23 campaign and finished third, four points ahead of Newcastle United in fourth place. From 38 league games, they won 23 of them.
Gary Neville Predicts Tactical Shift: Arteta Set to Abandon Experiment in Arsenal vs. Manchester United
For the match against Manchester United, Neville predicts that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will switch back to using four proper defenders.
In place of Gabriel Magalhaes this season, the Gunners have been utilising Thomas Partey as their right-back. While asserting that he will return to his foundations for the match versus United, Neville has characterised Arteta’s plan as an experiment. The once employed defender for Manchester United said: “I would say that for me, looking at Arsenal, there is an element of experimentation, and this expectation that full-backs think they can play midfield and midfielders think they can play at full-back.”
He continued: “Thomas Partey is playing half-and-half in a game, and sometimes there is an element that you need to go back to basics. I would expect next week that Arteta is going to end that experiment and probably go with a solid back four with four defenders.”
In his formation this year, Arteta has used Thomas Partey, an Arsenal midfielder, as a right-back. Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice will be the midfielder’s natural teammates under the Spanish manager, according to Neville.
He remarked: “He will maybe move Partey into midfield along with [Declan] Rice and Martin Odegaard, to get back to something which resembles what a team should look like.”
Along with winning two of their first three games this season, Arsenal had also drawn their prior matchup with Fulham.
