I have been to a fair few of these matches and I could count on one finger the amount of bad games I have witnessed between these great sides.
I have witnessed the good with the 6-1 and 8-2 league wins and the 4-0 FA cup win, the bad with the title decider where Arsenal won 1-0 and clinched the title at Old Trafford and the ugly with our 2-0 win in the infamous pizzagate affair where United ended the 49 match unbeaten run.
The matches over the last few seasons have been a bit calmer since the Keano v Vierra or Keown v Van Nistelrooy affairs where often the matches were nasty bordering on violent at times. The history of badness can stem back to 1991 where the first battle of Old Trafford where a 21 man brawl ensued and both clubs got heavy fines and points deductions.
The last few years has seen the football shine through and there have been some classic matches between the two.
Both sides go into the match with differing form where United clawed back the lead at the top of the league and Arsenal have slipped out of contention after a surprise defeat at Norwich and a squeaky win against QPR. During the week Arsenal showed there worst and best side in 120 minutes. They played Reading in the Capital One Cup where they found themselves 4-0 down but recovered to win 7-5 in extra time. United also played in a goal fest where they lost 5-4 after extra time against Chelsea.
Although both defences conceded heavily there will be major changes in defence for Saturday's early encounter. United's first team defence is pretty much picking itself and with the imminent arrival of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, the news got grim when Sir Alex announced that Vidic was unlikely to see action until after Christmas.
Also news that midfielder Kagawa is to be out for at least a month has added selection posers in the midfield. The midweek performance of Anderson has given Sir Alex a thought but it's likely Carrick, Scholes and Cleverley will be given the nod. The width is likely to be Ashley Young and Tony Valencia, Nani although played well and scored during the week upset Sir Alex with some of his antics so will unlikely to start.
Tomorrow we will see Robin Van Persie come against his former employees. To his credit Arsene Wegner has called for Arsenal fans to 'respect' Van Persie for his record at Arsenal, hopefully Van Persie will continue with his goal scoring fest.
Wayne Rooney is likely to be partner in crime with Van Persie and it will be tough on Hernandez and Welbeck who have played well in the last few weeks, but to have those two guys on the bench can only be a positive.
In terms of a result, a 10 goal thriller like last season is possible, but I am guessing it will be a tight start and I fancy United to nick a goal and take the three points.
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