Arsenal and Manchester United’s old title rivalry remains somewhat on ice with the Gunners getting closer to a potential title this season than their old foes have ever managed since the exit of Sir Alex Ferguson. Erik ten Hag, however, has had an attempt at rekindling the back-and-forth between the club's, at least at managerial level, with a rather ludicrous claim.
Speaking in March, the former Ajax boss targeted Arsenal’s injury record in an unprovoked fashion when discussing his own side’s absences. He went on to describe Mikel Arteta as being fortunate to having a near ‘totally available’ squad to call upon.
“Man City home [2-1 victory in January], it was the only time this season [that United had a fully fit squad], in other times, every time, every game is a player suspended, injured, illness.
READ MORE: Mikel Arteta gives Oleksandr Zinchenko Arsenal injury update amid claims season was over
“So we have to deal with it well, of course, you hope. I see Arsenal, they almost have all the time a squad that is totally available.”
At the time Arsenal were missing their most expensive summer acquisition and starting striker Gabriel Jesus. The Brazilian suffered a serious knee injury at the World Cup which required surgery and, despite ten Hag’s claims, was missing for the visit of his side to the Emirates Stadium in which his replacement, Eddie Nketiah, scored twice.
Arsenal had also already lost Emile Smith Rowe for the majority the first half of the season after he too underwent surgery. Mohamed Elneny, Thomas Partey, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Matt Turner, Granit Xhaka and Bukayo Saka to name but a few had missed game time prior to the Dutch head coach’s words.
Since then, his words have been made to look even worse as Arsenal were seriously damaged by the loss of William Saliba and Takehiro Tomiyasu. Both players being out has had a detrimental effect on the efficiency of Arteta’s side to progress the ball and a knock-on effect has been felt throughout the group, especially during a winless four-game run which has significantly damaged the club’s title hopes and now Oleksandr Zinchenko is rumoured to be out too.
There’s no doubt that Ten Hag was wrong in his unnecessary statement about Arsenal. However, what’s bordered on amusing is his stand-in captain Bruno Fernandes discussing Man United’s targets for the season and the expectations around the club.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Fernandes made the claim that his side finishing in the top four would be an achievement that ‘no one’ thought possible. Pardon?
"This club has to be in that position. And I think these players deserve to be there too.
“The team has done a great job this season when no one thought United could be fighting for the top four. At the beginning of the season no one put our team in the top six. We knew we could be even higher. And soon this club will be fighting for even bigger things."
Manchester United, a team not only who had a brand new and highly anticipated managerial change backed with a £200million-plus summer window (more than title-challenging Arsenal) which included a massive deal for Antony amongst five other summer additions which were reinforced with three more in January. If the expectation for Man United was that they wouldn’t finish in the top four, which teams were?
Liverpool are one point behind Man United having played a game more after losses to Brighton and West Ham have dented their momentum. However, ten Hag has three out of four remaining fixtures at Old Trafford, a task he surely cannot do anything but pass?
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