• Summary

• Buoyant United visit Arsenal under interim manager Carrick
• Gunners look to preserve seven-point lead at the top
• Chasers Man City host Wolves, Villa travel to Newcastle

Arsenal versus Manchester United is a fixture that has lost its lustre since the days when they were scrapping for Premier League titles with such ferocity that clashes between the sides inevitably reached boiling point.

They shared out the title between them for nine seasons between 1996 and 2004, with Alex Ferguson’s United taking six and Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal prevailing on three occasions.

United have been a fading force since Ferguson’s reign ended with the 2012-13 title, while Arsenal have not been champions of England since their Invincibles ruled the roost in 2003-04.

After three successive runners-up finishes, Arsenal are red-hot favourites to end that long wait this season and have opened a seven-point lead at the top over stuttering Manchester City and Aston Villa.

They host United on Sunday, and while their visitors are, once again, not in the title equation, the match has suddenly gone from being what most assumed would be a comfortable home win to a fixture that could rekindle memories of old.

CARRICK APPOINTMENT SPARKS REACTION

The sacking of manager Ruben Amorim this month ended another chapter of woe for United, but the appointment of former midfielder Michael Carrick on a caretaker basis until the end of the season sparked an astonishing reaction last weekend.

United’s 2-0 ‘thrashing’ of City at Old Trafford seemed to banish the gloom at a stroke — with Carrick’s side ripping Pep Guardiola’s title contenders to shreds with the kind of swashbuckling football that has been beyond them for so long.

Arsenal have won five and drawn once in their last six league meetings with United, although they did lose a penalty shootout at home this time last year in the FA Cup.

While Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side has a comfortable cushion at the top, they have drawn their last two league matches 0-0 and will be wary of a United side who will be eager to prove last weekend was no flash in the pan.

“I think for Michael his game plan is simple, exactly the same way as you’ve just played against Manchester City,” United’s record scorer Wayne Rooney said this week.

Although trailing Arsenal by 15 points, United are in fifth, one point behind fourth-placed champions Liverpool, and with genuine hopes of qualifying for the Champions League after the ignominy of being absent from Europe this season.

MANCHESTER CITY PLAYING CATCH-UP AGAIN

City reeled in Arsenal in the build-up to Christmas, but a dreadful run of form has left them playing catch-up again.

Three successive Premier League draws before the defeat at Old Trafford, and Tuesday’s Champions League humiliation at Bodo Glimt has threatened to derail their season.

A home game against bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday should allow them to reset, although with the visitors showing signs of life, nothing will be taken for granted.

Unai Emery’s Villa also need a quick bounce back after a draw at Crystal Palace, followed by their first home defeat of the season against Everton last week.

Villa face a tricky trip to Newcastle United on Sunday.

WEST HAM HOPING FOR THREE MORE POINTS

The weekend’s action begins at the London Stadium on Saturday with relegation battlers West Ham United hosting Sunderland, hoping to use last week’s morale-boosting win at Tottenham Hotspur to kick-start their escape bid.

They are in 18th spot, five points behind Nottingham Forest, who go to seventh-placed Brentford on Sunday.

Liverpool go to Bournemouth on Saturday evening knowing they are in a scrap to make next season’s Champions League — even if once again England’s top five are likely to qualify for Europe’s elite club competition.

After four successive draws, Arne Slot’s side are only just ahead of United and two points better off than Chelsea, who go to Crystal Palace on Sunday, though they have welcomed back Mo Salah after his return from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank bought himself some time as they beat Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday, but the Dane will be back in the firing line at second-from-bottom Burnley on Saturday.

Lose that, and the vultures will be circling again.

-Reuters

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The Premier League’s festive feast turned stale on Thursday as the New Year’s Day programme served up three 0-0 draws, most significantly Manchester City’s stalemate at Sunderland, which left them four points adrift of leaders Arsenal.

Second-placed City would have reduced Arsenal’s advantage to two points, but instead were frustrated as their winning streak in all competitions was halted at eight.

Liverpool’s attack was also found wanting as they drew 0-0 at home to Leeds United, while there were no goals at Brentford as they ground out a draw with Tottenham Hotspur.

The only goals of the day came at Selhurst Park, where Fulham’s Tom Cairney scored a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw.

Sunderland have proved stubborn opposition on their return to the Premier League and have now drawn with City, Arsenal and third-placed Aston Villa at their Stadium of Light.

They are only the second promoted team to remain unbeaten in their first 10 home games in a Premier League campaign, after Ipswich Town in 1992-93, and were worth their point.

City did everything in their power to make the breakthrough, but home goalkeeper Robin Roefs pulled off a series of saves, while the closest the visitors came to scoring was Josko Gvardiol’s heade,r which shaved the post in the second half.

“They are so physical. They’re so strong, so it’s not a surprise at that. We take the point,” City boss Pep Guardiola said. “Really pleased with the performances, especially in the second half. There’s still a long way (to go).”

One boost for City was the sight of Rodri back in action as a substitute for the injured Niko Gonzalez having recovered from a hamstring injury that had restricted him to a handful of minutes in the last three months.

Arsenal’s 4-1 thrashing of Villa on Tuesday put them on 45 points at the halfway stage of the season, while Pep Guardiola’s City have 41 after just their second league draw of the season.

Next up for Arsenal is a trip to struggling Bournemouth on Saturday, while City are at home a day later against Chelsea who parted ways with coach Enzo Maresca on Thursday.

Reigning champions Liverpool are 12 points behind Arsenal in fourth place as they produced a lacklustre display.

Their best chance fell to Hugo Ekitike but his miss rather summed up Liverpool’s day, somehow heading an inviting cross by Jeremie Frimpong away from goal when he seemed set to score.

It could have been worse for Arne Slot’s side too with Dominic Calvert-Lewin having an 81st-minute goal disallowed for offside after latching on to a pass by Noah Okafor.

“You would like to start (2026) with a win,” Slot said. “But it was difficult. I don’t think we were able to play many times through their low block.

“Sometimes we didn’t have enough bodies in front of the goal, and in other moments where we did create, or we were close to a goal, we were a bit unfortunate.”

For Leeds, it was another important point in their bid to stay clear of the relegation zone. They are in 16th place with 21 points, seven ahead of third-from-bottom West Ham United.

“It doesn’t come along that often that you get a clean sheet and a point at Anfield,” Leeds boss Daniel Farke said.

“We had to defend and suffer, but we are newly promoted and came to the defending champions.”

Spurs manager Thomas Frank went back to his old club, Brentford, but it was a forgettable affair as Tottenham’s 137-game run in the Premier League without a goalless draw ended.

Their last one was also against Brentford in May 2022.

The draw left Tottenham in 12th place with 26 points while Brentford, who had the better chances, are ninth with 27.

Palace are now winless in six matches in all competitions as they were denied victory by a superb curling shot by Cairney.

Jean-Philippe Mateta had headed Palace into the lead, but the hosts fade,d and Fulham would have snatched all three points had Dean Henderson not made a great save to deny Timothy Castagne and had Joachim Andersen not blazed a shot over.

“When the legs and the mind are not that fresh, it’s a little bit difficult. It was a good point today,” Palace manager Oliver Glasner said. Palace are 10th with Fulham 11th, both on 27 points.

-Reuters

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Manchester United suffered a frustrating end to 2025 as they were held to a 1-1 home draw by Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday, as the Premier League’s bottom side collected their third point of the season.

Ending a run of 11 straight defeats in the league, Wolves did not look like a side facing almost inevitable relegation as they managed to derail a United team seeking to break back into the top four.

Dutch forward Joshua Zirkzee made the most of a rare start by giving United the lead in the 27th minute, fashioning a sliver of space on the edge of the box before scoring with a shot that deflected off Ladislav Krejci.

Benjamin Sesko almost made it two in the 39th minute, but he headed his effort from a corner off the post, summing up a frustrating night for the 22-year-old Slovenian.

Wolves never backed down, and Krejci equalised just before the break, Zirkzee giving him a helping hand by sending a defensive header across the box for the Czech to nod back in at the far post.

The tempo remained high in the second half, with Wolves goalkeeper Jose Sa scrambling to prevent a header from teammate Yerson Mosquera from going into the net, while his United counterpart Senne Lammens pulled off a superb double save to deny Krejci and Mosquera.

Patrick Dorgu thought he had snatched a 90th-minute winner for United but the goal was chalked off for offside following a VAR review, leaving United sixth in the standings with 30 points. Wolves are bottom with three points from 19 games.

United coach Ruben Amorim was left frustrated by his side’s inability to put away Wolves, who have failed to win any of their last 23 games in the league.

“Looking at the 90 minutes, we had our chances, but the fluidity offensively wasn’t there. There is a lack of connections at the moment,” he told Sky Sports. “They tried,but we didn’t play well. When you don’t play well with the ball, you struggle without it. We need to recover and go to the next one.”

United fans were left scratching their heads when Zirkzee was replaced by Jack Fletcher at halftime.

“We were struggling with their midfielders, and sometimes you can attack better with less strikers. We played with three strikers and sometimes that’s not the best thing to attack well,” Amorim said.

“This game is over, you cannot change the result of this one, but you can move on and go to the next one.”

-Reuters

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