Man United vs Arsenal: Why Arteta's success could be a blueprint for United
Two of England's most storied soccer teams go head to head on Sunday with their paths heading in wildly different directions.
Arsenal — top of the Premier League — is mounting a second consecutive title challenge and hoping to finally end a two‐ decades‐long wait to be crowned champion.
Manchester United is desper‐ ately trying to avoid its lowest finish in the Premier League era.
Manager Erik ten Hag could yet salvage the campaign by winning the FA Cup this month. But even victory against Manchester City in the final would not disguise his team's woeful performance in the league, and at a time when new co‐owner Jim Ratcliffe is over‐ hauling the failing club.
It wasn't so long ago that Mikel Arteta's fate was similarly doomed at Arsenal.
Lured from City in 2019, when he was Pep Guardiola's trusted assistant, Arteta delivered a first trophy by winning the FA Cup after an eighth‐place finish in the league.
Three straight defeats at the start of the following season in‐ cluded a 5‐0 rout at City and calls for Arteta to be fired. Arsenal blew the chance of Champions League qualification by losing seven of the last 12 games.
The jury was out on Arteta but Arsenal backed his methods and proved its faith in him by giving him the power to dispose of highly paid players like Pierre‐ Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil. Focus and money was spent on young players who would grow with Arteta and buy into his methods such as Martin Ode‐ gaard, Ben White and Declan Rice, who have been key figures in their rise over the past two seasons.
They led the league for 248 days last season but another col‐ lapse was a cause for criticism. However, the manner in which Arteta has transformed a club that hadn't qualified for the Champions League since 2016 until last year is a lesson in the benefits of patience and trust in a manager.
How Ten Hag will hope United follow Arsenal's lead.
The Dutchman has repeatedly called for trust in his process in the face of ever‐worsening re‐ sults.
United's 13 league defeats are its most in the Premier League era. United has 18 losses overall.
United has won only one of its last seven league games, against last‐placed Sheffield United. At eighth in the standings, it is on course for its lowest finish of the era.
Such damning numbers are the reason there is so much uncer‐ tainty around Ten Hag's position, even with the chance of silver‐ ware.
He has pointed to a debilitating injury list all season, and if he can defy the odds in the FA Cup final, he can point to consecutive cam‐ paigns with a trophy which no United manager has achieved since Alex Ferguson.
Having also secured a top‐four finish in his first season, Ten Hag could make the case that his sec‐ ond season is an outlier.
Ferguson, himself, believed he needed the FA Cup in 1990 to take the pressure off after a 13th‐place finish in the division.
But Ten Hag's squad looks un‐ balanced. United appears tacti‐ cally naive and has conceded 81 goals in all competitions so far, the most since 1976‐77.
United supporters are more hopeful than confident their team can spoil Arsenal's title chase this weekend.
Ancelotti faces goalkeeper dilemma ahead of Champions League final. Courtois or Lunin?
Real Madrid coach Carlo An‐ celotti will give Thibaut Courtois another chance to impress before deciding which of his goalkeepers will start the Champions League final.
While, Courtois is considered one of the world's top goalkeep‐ ers, he has just recently returned from a long‐term injury. In his ab‐ sence, backup Andriy Lunin helped take the team to the June 1 final against Borussia Dortmund.
Ancelotti said Friday he plans to give Courtois more playing time in the league to assess his form, but that he had one month "to think about it."
Lunin was a rarely used backup to Courtois until the Belgian rup‐ tured a left‐knee ligament in Au‐ gust just two days before the start of the season. The Ukrainian took over the staring job and has im‐ pressed in his place.
Courtois had been sidelined until he started last weekend's 3‐0 win over Cadiz, a victory that secured Madrid's 36th Spanish league title.
But Lunin was back in the net for Wednesday's 2‐1 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinals.
Ancelotti said Friday that Cour‐ tois will play on Saturday when Madrid visits Granada in the league. He said he would rest several starters, including Jude Bellingham, for a game that has no implications for Madrid. Granada is in 19th place and struggling to avoid relegation.
After Granada, Madrid will have three more Spanish league games before the big final in Lon‐ don.
"Courtois will play tomorrow," Ancelotti said. "I have these (re‐ maining) games to evaluate the goalkeepers."
Lunin consolidated himself as Ancelotti's first‐choice keeper even after Madrid brought in Kepa Arrizabalaga following the injury to Courtois. The 25‐year‐ old Ukrainian saved two penal‐ ties in the decisive shootout win over Manchester City in the quarterfinals.
Courtois, however, has proven experience in finals. The 31‐ year‐old Belgian won the 2022
Champions League with Madrid, the FA Cup with Chelsea, the Eu‐ ropa League with Atletico Madrid, and two Copa del Rey ti‐ tles (one for Madrid, one for Atletico), among several other ti‐ tles.
Former Madrid and Spain goalie Iker Casillas weighed in, saying that for him Lunin should stay in goal against Dortmund.
"Lunin has shown he has sure hands in goal and can rise to the moment," Casillas said, while questioning whether Courtois would have enough time to re‐ gain his top form for the final.
"I completely respect what a Madrid legend says, but I don't want to get into this debate be‐ cause I have this month to think about it," Ancelotti said when asked about Casillas' opinion.
TCHOUAMENI DOUBTFUL
Ancelotti may have to find a re‐ placement for holding midfielder Aurélien Tchouameni for the final after he was diagnosed with a left‐foot injury.
"We have doubts about Tchoua‐ meni being able to play the final," Ancelotti said.
If the France midfielder does not recover, then his spot would likely go to countryman Eduardo Camavinga.
WEEKEND GAMES
While Granada must try to beat Madrid to boost its chances of staying up, 19th‐placed Cadiz is even closer to relegation before it plays Getafe on Sunday.
Girona will look to hold on to second place when it visits Alaves on Friday, while third‐placed Barcelona hosts Real Sociedad on Monday.
Atletico Madrid is in fourth place and clinging to the final Champions League berth. It hosts Celta Vigo on Sunday. Athletic Bil‐ bao, in fifth, welcomes Osasuna on Saturday trailing Atletico by six points.