MANCHESTER UNITED welcome former bitter rivals Arsenal to Old Trafford on Thursday night looking to pick up their first win of the Ralf Rangnick era.
Rangnick was officially appointed as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s successor on Tuesday, with the club hiring the German as their interim manager for six months.
The former Leipzig boss has been tipped to whip the Red Devils into shape and guide them to Champions League football.
But he’ll face a difficult task to get the better of an in-form Arsenal, who have won four of their last five league matches.
It’s been several years since a match between United and Arsenal played a significant role in the destination of the Premier League title.
But SunSport thought it’d only be right to take a stroll down memory lane and devise a starting XI featuring some clubs’ best players ahead of their latest meeting.
Gunners and England legend David Seaman edges United hero Edwin van der Sar and current Red Devils stopper David de Gea between the sticks.
An all-English line-up makes up the back four, with former three Lions stars Gary Neville and Ashley Cole featuring at right and left-back respectively.
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And the pair are joined in defence by their former fellow internationals Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand.
Bitter rivals Patrick Viera and Roy Keane are flanked by Cristiano Ronaldo and Roberto Pires in midfield.
And Premier League icons Thierry Henry and Wayne Rooney – who together scored a staggering 383 league goals – lead the line for our combined starting XI.
Alternative combined Man Utd and Arsenal starting XI: Van de Sar; Lauren, Vidic, Keown, Evra; Giggs, Gilberto, Scholes, Beckham; Bergkamp, Van Nistelrooy
Rangnick has only had a few days to sink his claws into United’s under-performing players.
And Gunners boss Mikel Arteta admits he doesn’t know what to expect from the highly-respected coach.
The Spaniard said of Rangnick: “He has been one of top coaches and, in every involvement he has had in the game, not just coaching, he has made some radical changes in areas.
“So he is a really interesting person in the football world and a really interesting appointment.
“We tried to gather information to understand more about what to expect and we don’t know.
“We didn’t know if he would be sitting on the bench, taking training sessions so in terms of the preparation it was a little trickier than usual because you don’t really know the influence the new coach will have.
“You do know what to expect when you play at that stadium, in front of the crowd and with a team and squad that is probably one of the most talented in the league, so you know the situations you are going to face.
“It is very difficult tactically because you don’t know how they will prepare for the game, the options they can play and the formations they can vary.
“So, it is focused more on ourselves, what we have to do and to make sure the team is prepared to go there and beat them.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
