Arteta warns Arsenal to be at best and beat United
Mikel Arteta has cautioned his Arsenal team it must be at its best if it is to beat Manchester United at Old Trafford on Monday (AEST) and keep pace with new Premier League leader Manchester City.
City won 4-0 at Fulham on Saturday to put Pep Guardiola's men within two victories of the title, and Arsenal will look to keep the pressure on with a triumph at Old Trafford.
Those have been hard to come by of late for the Gunners, however, winning just one of its past 16 Premier League visits to United.
With that history in mind, Arteta knows his side will have to put in a top performance to claim the three points. "I think every game has a different context," he said ahead of the game.
"We know the difficulty. It's in our history when you look at what we've done over there. So we're going to have to be at our best to win the game."
United comes into the contest in poor form with a run of two wins in 10 league outings leaving it with an uphill battle if it is to qualify for any form of European football next season.
The Red Devils are currently eighth, six points behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, and Erik ten Hag watched his side get hammered 4-0 at Crystal Palace last week.
However, Ten Hag still feels he has the backing of the United owners, saying: "They have common sense.
"They see when you have 32 different backlines, when you lose eight centre-backs and when we don't have a left full-back. They know that will have a negative impact on results."
Arsenal is looking to complete the league double over United for the first time since the 2006-2007 campaign, while it most recently won three in a row against the Red Devils between November 1997 and September 1998.
Having failed to score in 12 of its first 22 Premier League away games against United, Arsenal has found the net in each of its past nine league visits to Old Trafford.
The Gunners have lost their final away league game in three of their four previous seasons under Arteta, though, with the exception being a 3-1 win at Palace in 2020-2021.
However, the Gunners are unbeaten when facing Manchester United in their final Premier League away game (one win, two draws), securing the title with a 1-0 win in 2001-2002.
United has conceded 81 goals in all competitions this season, most recently conceding more in a single campaign in 1970-1971 (82).
It has also lost 18 games in all competitions this season, losing more in a single campaign most recently in 1977-1978 (19).