Manchester United vs Arsenal. Premier League.
Old TraffordAttendance75,264.
Saturday 19 November 2016 12:38, UK
Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss his first league game of the season when Manchester United go head-to-head with Arsenal on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 1.
The striker is suspended following his fifth caution of the season, which came against Swansea at the beginning of November.
Boss Jose Mourinho is free to return to the dugout having served a one-game touchline ban against Swansea after admitting using abusive words towards a match official at half-time in their 0-0 league draw with Burnley in October.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger, who is yet to record a win against a side managed by Mourinho in the Premier League, will make a late check on the fitness of Alexis Sanchez ahead of his side's trip to Old Trafford.
Despite carrying a hamstring injury, Sanchez scored twice in Chile's 3-1 win over Uruguay in World Cup qualifying, playing 84 minutes on Tuesday.
He will no be assessed by Arsenal's medical team before a decision is taken on whether he is fit to play against United.
Team news
Manchester United are expected to field Wayne Rooney, who this week apologised to Gareth Southgate and FA technical director Dan Ashworth over images emerged of him partying into the early hours over the weekend.
Rooney sat out England's 2-2 draw with Spain on Tuesday with a minor knee injury and returned to United for treatment ahead of Saturday's match.
Centre-backs Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling will miss Arsenal's visit through injury whilst Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia face races to recover from their own fitness worries.
For the visitors Hector Bellerin (ankle) is out for a month after picking up a knock at the end of the recent draw at home to Tottenham, with the game also coming too soon for Santi Cazorla (Achilles).
Lucas Perez (ankle), Per Mertesacker and Danny Welbeck (both knee) are also still missing.
Opta stats
Manchester United have lost just one of their last Premier League meetings against Arsenal; a 3-0 defeat at the Emirates in October 2015.
Mourinho is unbeaten in all 11 Premier League games he has managed against Arsene Wenger, having won five and drawn six as former Chelsea manager.
This is Manchester United's third worst start to a Premier League season. Should they lose on Saturday, they would sit on their joint fewest points from the opening 12 league games, level with the 04/05 season when they went on to finish third.
Arsenal are the only Premier League side yet to trail away from home.
Wayne Rooney is the second-top scorer in Manchester United's history with 247 goals, just two behind Sir Bobby Charlton.
Petr Cech has kept six league clean sheets against Manchester United, which is joint top with David Seaman. The former Chelsea 'keeper made 196 appearances under Mourinho.
Merson's prediction
I think this will be a draw. Arsenal thought they could turn up in February and win, and ended up getting beaten 3-2.
Wenger is moaning about Alexis Sanchez and Chile, I think he's just starting to make excuses already.
Really, Arsenal should win this game on form, but with Jose Mourinho's record against Wenger, I think he has a hold over him. I'm going 1-1.
I think Mourinho's record over Wenger makes a big difference. People aren't really expecting United to win this, with Arsenal playing well, but I'm going one each.
PAUL PREDICTS: 1-1
Betting
Manchester United are Sky Bet's 6/4 favourites for the victory on Saturday, with Arsenal 9/5 while the draw is priced at 23/10.
However, the Gunners are considerably shorter in the Premier League outright betting at 6/1 to United's price of 25/1.
Marcus Rashford heads a wide open first goalscorer market at 5/1, with Wayne Rooney and Olivier Giroud closely behind at 11/2 apiece.
Find out what the Soccer Saturday pundits and Jamie Redknapp are backing in their Sky Bet tips here.
