Michael Carrick could hardly have asked for a better start to his second temporary Manchester United tenure, but another difficult task awaits away to Premier League leaders Arsenal tomorrow..
The Red Devils were deserved 2-0 victors in last weekend’s Manchester derby at Old Trafford, where Manchester City were cut apart by some superb counter-attacks. The “United way”, if there is such a thing, was very much on show.
United had only 31.8% possession, yet they recorded 11 shots and hit the target with seven; City only had seven attempts in total. United’s shots amounted to 2.27 expected goals, to City’s 0.45.
Carrick’s team had three goals disallowed and hit the woodwork twice, but strikes from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu got them the victory their performance merited.
After facing second in the Premier League at home, Carrick’s United now head to the Emirates Stadium to take on Mikel Arteta’s leaders.
Carrick remains unbeaten as United manager (P4 W3 D1) including his three-game caretaker spell in 2021, but most importantly, the manner of their performance against City won’t have gone unnoticed by Arsenal boss Arteta.
He won’t be underestimating the challenge at hand, even if the Gunners are 15 points clear of United ahead of Sunday’s meeting. It is Arsenal vs United, after all, one of English football’s vintage rivalries.
In fact, Carrick’s first and only Premier League victory in his previous stint as United’s caretaker boss came against Arteta’s Arsenal, a 3-2 win at Old Trafford in December 2021.
However, it’s fair to say the Arsenal of 2026 are a different beast, and Arteta has generally had the upper hand in meetings with United. He has won 67% of his 12 Premier League games against them (W8 D2 L2), the highest win rate of any manager to face them at least five times.
For all of their issues, though, United do have what it takes to trouble the best teams, posting positive attacking numbers for most of the season. They rank third in the Premier League for goals (38), behind Arsenal (40) and Man City (45), second for xG (40.6), and they lead the way for shots (362) and shots on target (126).
And, although it’s a small sample size of just two games (one being vs Burnley), United rank first in the Premier League for xG (4.81), shots attempted (41), shots on target (17), xG differential (+4.12) and shot difference (+27) since Ruben Amorim’s departure.
But shutting teams out is arguably what Arsenal do best.
Arteta’s side have not faced a single shot on target in either of their last two Premier League matches, the fifth time this season they have stopped their opponents from having one. It is the most occasions a team have managed this in a single season since Chelsea in 2020-21 (five). Similarly, only Man City (in 2017-18 and 2019-20) have done so more often in a season (six in each) since at least 2003-04.
