Manchester United vs Arsenal EPL: Preview and Live score

If you want to get the live score and updates of tonight’s champions league semi final match between Manchester United and Arsenal, then visit the following link:

Manchester United and Arsenal 29 April 2009 Semi Final Updates

If you want to get the online live score and updates of Manchester United vs Arsenal match then visit the following link:

Manchester United vs Arsenal EPL: Live Score and Updates

Another high profile English Premier League match is going to be held today afternoon as Manchester United and Arsenal are facing each other at Old Trafford. This is a crucial match for both sides as the league is now at the fag end of the season and no team will afford to lose any point at this stage.

Manchester United is currently leading the league table with 77 points, while Arsenal is six points behind United and three points behind second placed Chelsea in the point table with only five matches to go in the season for the leading contenders of the title. The match will take place at the Manchester United home ground Old Trafford, where the home side outclassed Arsenal 4-0 in FA Cup last February. A win would see Arsenal go within three points of Manchester United, while a defeat would mean the end of Arsenal’s title hope. Fans are now eagerly waiting for the Manchester United vs Arsenal showdown in the weekend.

Match: Manchester United vs Arsenal, English Premier League 2007-2008

Venue: Old Trafford

Date: 13 April 2008, Sunday

Time: 16:00 GMT

Live on: Sky Sports 1, BBC Radio Five Live

Recent performance of Manchester United and Arsenal

For Manchester United, they are currently at their top form. They have recently reached the semi final of UEFA Champions League seeing off AS Roma 3-0 (on aggregate) in the quarter final. Manchester United projected victory in both legs and confirmed their place in the last four of UEFA Champions League 2008. However, Manchester United was held to a 2-2 draw by Middlesbrough in their recent EPL match last week. However, considering their performance in last thirteen matches in all competition it has to say that Manchester United is now in an impressive run both home and abroad. Out of their last thirteen matches, the Red Devils won ten and lost once, while drew in other two matches.

Arsenal, on the other hand, is perhaps going though the worst time this season with a number of key players being sidelined with injury. Following the heart breaking Champions league defeat to English rivals Liverpool last week, Arsenal is now left with English premier league as the only hope to win silverware this season. Except the fighting and spirited victory over Bolton Wanderers in EPL, Arsenal does not have any other victory out of their last seven matches in all competitions. Arsenal lost two and drew four out of their last seven matches in all competitions. Arsenal started off the season in style and led the premier league most of the time. Even two months back, Arsenal had a five points lead over United in the league. Their lackluster performance of late is now the prime concern for Arsenal. However, Arsenal won three out of their last seven matches. However, Arsenal has lost only tow matches in premier league so far this season, but a number of unexpected draw made it difficult for their smooth progress, especially in the second half of the season in English premier league.

One information would make it clear to you that how much different their recent performance is from their starting performance this season. In the first 12 games of this season, Arsenal won in 11 occasions conceding only four goals. In contrast, Arsenal won only twice in their last 12 games conceding 18 goals.

Manchester United vs Arsenal: Head to head

I earlier mentioned that Manchester United thrashed Arsenal 4-0 in their FA Cup encounter. However, the Arsenal drew 2-2 against Manchester United at their home match in EPL in November. With another high profile showdown approaching, it is time to see a little bit of past performance between the tow sides against each other. Out of last 15 head to head clashes between Manchester United and Arsenal, United emerged winner in six occasions, while Arsenal won in four with five matches ended up as draw.

Arsene Wenger has admitted that his team is not at their best at this moment before going into the game, besides a number of players suffering from injury and there is no fresh players in the squad as almost all the players have been playing almost consistently for over the last few weeks because of those injured players. For example, Arsenal is currently running without Mathieu Flamini, Tomas Rosicky, Denilson along with long term absentee Eduardo da Silva. So, ahead the mouth watering away encounter against Manchester United, Arsenal is missing a number of key players due to injury.

Arsenal manager Wengers has already dubbed their encounter with Manchester United as the match of the season for his team and also admitted that the title of English Premier League this season would be the greatest of his career and he has also declared that only a win at Old Trafford would keep them in the title.

The Canadian Press reported:

"It will be the greatest achievement of my career to win the Premiership now because we are swimming against the stream at the moment," he said. "But I still believe this team can produce it. For us the game on Sunday is the game of the season. If we do not win this game we have no chance."

The manger also hinted that his team would go into the game not thinking of their season is over; rather they would focus on winning the match. Arsenal has lost most of their key players in the second half of the season, even though almost all of them were fir enough at the end of the first half, which led Arsene Wenger not to buy any player during the January transfer window which was reasonable as well. However, now the decision turned into curse for the side as the club is missing some key and inform players at this moment.

Even the opposition manager Sir Alex Ferguson also admitted that Arsenal suffered mostly because of their continuous injury problem in the second half of the season. He also added that with five games at hand, Arsenal could not afford to lose any more points. However, he said his side would focus on themselves as every game was must win now.

Goal.com reported:

"I think it is Arsenal's injuries in the second half of the season that has made it difficult to rest players."

"It's hard to recover from these things," said Ferguson of Arsenal's defeat to Liverpool, adding: "If we beat them, it makes it difficult for them, no question. It's difficult anyway because they're six points behind us and three points behind Chelsea.
"With five games to go there's not a lot of leeway and they can't afford to drop anything really. But we have got to look at ourselves and make sure we keep motoring.
"Every game is a must-win now. We dropped two points last week [at Middlesbrough] and we need to win our games, it's as simple as that."

Injury: A Big Threat for Arsenal

As I mentioned earlier that injury has been a major concern for the London based club in the second half of current season as they missed a number of key players due to injury which affected badly on their performance. Moreover, they do not have a depth squad for which Wenger could not give his players enough rest which was badly needed for some of them.

Midfielder Mathieu Flamini has been out of the tour to Old Trafford being sidelined with an ankle injury sustained during the first half of the recent defeat 4-2 against Liverpool. Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva is going to replace him in the starting line up. Abou Diaby remains suspended, while Bacary Sagna is not yet confirmed for the match against Manchester United. Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo will remain sidelined as usual due to their long term injury.

On the other hand, Manchester United does not have any major injury woes. Rather, they had the luxury to rest the players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney in the second leg match of UEFA Champions League quarter final against AS Roma and even without them, Manchester United projected a 1-0 victory at home. Ronaldo and Rooney, the two key players of Manchester United, would come into the match being fresh against Arsenal.

Though defender Rio Ferdinand suffered a small foot problem for which he needed to take three stitches during the match against Roma, he will make it to the starting line up. However, Nemanja Vidic will remain sidelined as he is yet to recover from his knee injury. Gary Neville and Mikael Silvestre have made their come back during the last match against Roma and they are available for the upcoming match as well. However, Darren Fletcher and Louis Saha are not yet fir enough to come back in action against Arsenal today.

Actually, you can see that Manchester United is also missing three players at this moment, but the advantage they enjoy is that they have a large squad with a number of fit, fresh, ready-to-serve players who are just waiting for a call. That is where, Arsenal has problems.

Arsenal does not have any fresh face in the side as most of their key players have been playing almost regularly without getting any break during the recent busy schedule both in home and Europe. So, it would be a major problem for Arsenal against Manchester United. I admit that most of the Arsenal footballers are young and full of strength. They do not have lack of stamina. However, remember that Manchester United also has youngsters like Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, who are enough to destroy any opposition in their days.

However, Arsenal defense specially their goal keeper Manuel Almunia has been showing an excellent performance this season. The Spanish goal keeper has kept Arsenal’s no. 1 goal keeper Jens Lehmann on the sideline for most of the part of this season. Moreover, Arsenal has some young potential defenders like Gaël Clichy, Kolo Touré, Philippe Senderos and experienced captain William Gallas.

The absence of Mathieu Flamini and Abou Diaby would lessen their strength in the midfield, though they have some effective players like Aliaksandr Hleb, Gilberto Silva. However, Cesc Fàbregas has to show some of his best if Arsenal wants to win some momentum in the midfield. Cesc Fàbregas has been in an impressive run so far this season and has been playing pretty well. So, much of Arsenal hope would depend on him.

However, I think, Arsenal’s main problems remains in forward as they have only a few options left with the injury of Eduardo da Silva. Though Emmanuel Adebayor has currently the third highest goal scorer in the league, he has been inconsistent in terms of performance. Moreover, the Togolese forward has been playing continuously without getting much rest. Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner have it in them but yet to flourish their full potential. However, I think, Robin van Persie could be crucial for Arsenal in the match. The Dutch striker has come back in action after suffering from injury almost all the season on the sideline. He started off well this season before falling on injury in the first half of the season. Though he has not found his best since his return to action, he would defiantly try his best to give his best in such an important match.

For Manchester United, I think, their main strength lies on their front line up where Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez can make a threatening combination with Cristiano Ronaldo frequently breaking the opposite defense. Cristinao Ronaldo is the highest goal scorer in premier league so far this season with 27 goals so far this season. Manchester United defense and midfielder are combination of young and experienced players. So, it seems Manchester United has a strong side to face Arsenal at their home ground.

Manchester United and Arsenal: Online Live Score and Updates

I know that fans of both sides are now eagerly waiting for this important match of English premier league. Fans will try to manage their time to watch the match on television even if they can not go to enjoy the match at the stadium. However, some of you might not be that fortunate to stick to your television because of personal or professional works. However, I would request you not to be disheartened because you can still get the online live score and updates of the match from different online live score sites. Here, I am giving some links of online live score sites:

Live Score

Goalzz

Live Football Scores

Live Goals

Goal.com

There is no doubt that the match between Manchester United and Arsenal is going to be one of the most important matches of this season. So, both teams will try their best to win the match to keep go a step closure to the title. For Arsenal, a defeat in the match means end of their title hope of this season, while the situation is not that much demanding for Manchester United. However, a home defeat would be a big blow for Manchester United in the progress to defend the title this season even though they would still remain at the top. So, neither side would leave the least chance for the opposition to capitalize on. Considering all the factors, it seems that the match has everything to be a classic one at the Old Trafford today.