Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho in a pre-match press conference ahead of the Arsenal encounter admitted that the match will be difficult with the form that The Gunners are on.
Manchester United head into the match on the back of a defeat to Manchester City and draws against Crystal Palace and Southampton. Arsenal in struck contrast are bang in form having beaten their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur 4-2 over the weekend which was preceded by a win over Bournemouth.
Speaking before the clash Mourinho was asked if he’ll be facing a different Arsenal side from the previous years, “Yes, is different It’s not for me to do that analysis, I have my opinion but keep for myself, different yes, and a very difficult match for us because we are going to play against a good team in a good moment without accumulation of matches because they are playing Europa League and when you play Europa League you normally play with second choices and give good rest to the players.
Manchester United are entering a marathon schedule of fixtures as Mourinho bemoaned the fixture congestion, “We have to play to the max and is accumulation of matches and then you arrive in this moment in December and many teams pay the price of that, I’m not clearly, that is not the motivation you want as a team as a club but to develop players fresher is a good way to do it.’
“And when you have good results in Europa League but very difficult match for us and very difficult match for them, in spite of our problems with players and with selection of the team, I am pretty sure they are not.”