Arsenal have made a great start to the Premier league season and are currently top of the table with a five-point advantage. They go into the weekend’s match against Manchester United at Old Trafford with a real opportunity to extend their advantage. They have been in great form recently, while it is especially better away from home where they are 15 matches unbeaten. A lot has been spoken about the summer signings like Mesut Ozil, who have cost the club in excess of £ 40 million, but Arsene Wenger has reminded everyone that the core of the team is still very young.
Wenger has often been criticised for sticking with youngsters, but he is hoping that the current crop of youngsters at Arsenal do a ‘Manchester United 1992’. After struggling for several years, Sir Alex Ferguson decided to bring in many youngsters like Gary Neville, Ryan Giggs, and David Beckham into the team. This was a move that was criticised during the time, but what followed has been history. Wenger has pointed to the fact that players like Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will probably make Arsenal equal the feats of the famous 1992 United youngsters.
Arsenal go into the weekend match with an eight-point advantage over United.
“I thought when seeing United’s side in ’92 it was important in the long term to have a British base, a team that cared for each other. United had David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, the Neville brothers and Nicky Butt. They grew up together and pushed that extra muscle because they cared for each other. We have that now. It was on my mind when we signed all our British players on long contracts,” said Wenger ahead of the match.
Arsenal come on the back of a morale boosting 1-0 win over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.