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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Casey Evans

Erik ten Hag can take three lessons from last Manchester United win over Arsenal before Emirates fixture

Manchester United face Arsenal on Sunday and Erik ten Hag will be wanting a win to firm up the club's top-four ambitions.

United are the only team to beat Arsenal so far this season. They defeated Mikel Arteta's side 3-1 at Old Trafford thanks to a debut goal from Antony and a brace from Marcus Rashford.

United fans were not confident going into that game and the same can be said about this fixture as well. Casemiro, who has been the side's midfield general in recent months, is suspended for the clash after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season against Crystal Palace.

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United must have done something right during the fixture to win against a strong Arsenal side, so therefore it is important that Ten Hag takes some lessons from the previous win. Here are three that are important:

The role of Scott McTominay

With Casemiro suspended, it is likely that McTominay will have to deputise as the number six against Arsenal. He played this role in the fixture earlier this season and it didn't cause that many problems.

This was mainly due to the team avoiding McTominay while building up from the back. Christian Eriksen was tasked with being the main outlet for the centre-backs to pass to while the 26-year-old was mainly used out of possession to stop Arsenal from countering.

Using Marcus Rashford correctly

It seems incredibly obvious, but Rashford has been one of United's best players this season. He is also the team's main goalscoring outlet and this is either playing on the left-hand side or through the middle.

He scored two goals against Arsenal at Old Trafford confirming the win and if they are to be victorious again at the Emirates he will need to be on his best form. United can do this by creating space for Rashford at every opportunity.

Seeing the game out

United's problem against Palace was that they were unable to see the game out, but earlier in the season against Arsenal, they did it perfectly (bar the goal by Bukayo Saka). Casemiro helped when he came on later in the game, but Ten Hag will not have that option on Sunday so he will have to find another solution.

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