Former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka has made his feelings on the club clear with a series of Instagram posts reminiscing on previous performances against Manchester United.
Mikel Arteta's side are in action against the Red Devils on Wednesday evening in the later 8:15pm kick-off. The Gunners are currently nine points behind league leaders Liverpool, but that gap could increase to 12 if the Merseyside outfit beat Newcastle United away from home and if Arsenal are on the losing end against United.
However, Arsenal will be full of confidence following their recent run of three wins on the bounce against Nottingham Forest, Sporting CP and West Ham. Last time out, they cruised past the Hammers by five goals to two.
Xhaka, 32, spent seven years in north London between 2016 and 2023 before he returned to the Bundesliga to join Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen. While at Arsenal, he scored 23 goals across 297 appearances in all competitions, three of which came against United at the Emirates Stadium.
In a series of Instagram stories, Xhaka shared clips of two of those goals, the first of which came in the 18/19 season as he struck from distance and wrong-footed David De Gea to find the back of the net. The second was from a similar distance in the 21/22 campaign to make it 3-1 to the home side, this time the goalkeeper went the right way but couldn't get a touch as Xhaka's strike nestled into the bottom corner.
Arsenal won this fixture 3-1 last season despite Marcus Rashford opening the scoring in the 27th minute. Arteta's side responded quickly as Martin Odegaard put them back on level terms a minute later, and stoppage time goals from Declan Rice and Gabriel Jesus sealed the victory.
In the reverse fixture at Old Trafford back in May, the Gunners won by a narrow 1-0 scoreline courtesy of a first half goal from Leandro Trossard. Arsenal will hope they can cause another upset in the early weeks of Ruben Amorim's tenure at United.
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Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus with the Arsenal Therapy Dog Win during the Arsenal Men's team group shoot at London Colney on September 18, 2023
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