Arsene Wenger's men are arguably in their best vein of form all season thanks to a third straight win in midweek against Huddersfield Town and a run of five victories in six league games, with only Manchester City taking anything off them since the loss at Watford in mid-October.
The 5-0 win on Wednesday was by far their biggest victory thus far, and the performance of Mesut Ozil - he was involved in three goals in a four- minute period during the second half - was a timely reminder of why there has been a significant interest in the German credited to United in recent times. The ongoing saga regarding the expiring contracts of Ozil and Alexis Sanchez has undermined the Gunners' season at times but they have at least seemed to get over those issues in recent weeks.
Alexandre Lacazette's participation or otherwise will be a hot topic going into the game, as he has been overlooked by Wenger for key clashes against Liverpool and Manchester City but was used as a starter in other top-six tussles against Tottenham and Chelsea. While Arsenal went on to lose the trips to Anfield and the Etihad, they were 2-0 winners when Lacazette started against Spurs and also took a point from Stamford Bridge
Arsenal have lost just one of their last five Premier League home games against Manchester United (W2 D2), winning each of the last two without conceding a goal. The Gunners have not won three successive home league games against Manchester United since May 1991. Arsenal have now won their last 12 home league games in a row, last enjoying a longer run between February and November 2005 at Highbury (13). Manchester United won at Watford in the midweek fixture, but haven’t secured back-to-back away wins in the Premier League since a run of four in April. Jose Mourinho hasn’t won any of his last 11 away league games against ‘big six’ opposition, since a 2-1 win at Liverpool in November 2014 (D5 L6), with his sides scoring just one goal in the last 10 such games. This will be the 18th meeting between Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho, with the Portuguese manager losing just two of these (W8 D7 L2). However, those two losses have come over the last four meetings (W1 D1 L2).
Mesut Ozil has been directly involved in four goals in his last four Premier League appearances against Manchester United (two goals, two assists). Olivier Giroud has scored 16 goals as a substitute in the Premier