Arsenal and Manchester United may no longer sit at the apex of the Premier League, but their fabled rivalry means that it's still a big occasion when the two meet.
During the iconic reigns of Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, United and the Gunners traded blows year after year in the battle for the domestic crown, with matches often boiling over. And although the fixture has lost some of that bite since the duo's respective retirements, anticipation is still high for Sunday's showdown at Old Trafford.
Wayne Rooney, Manchester United's all-time leading goalscorer, certainly knows a thing or two about playing - and beating - Arsenal.
It was Rooney who played a crucial role in ending the Gunners' historic 'Invincible' run back in 2004, after all - and the former England star and current DC United head coach has lifted the lid on the unusual approach that Ferguson would often deploy against his old arch-rival in order to try and gain an advantage ahead of this weekend's meeting.
In his column for The Times, Rooney wrote: "Arsenal was the one game where Sir Alex Ferguson let the opposition take the initiative. They would have possession — there was nothing we could do about that - we’d sit in a mid-block, close spaces, be hard to play through and hit them on the break.
"Most of the goals we — and I — scored against them came that way. It’s strange because we didn’t work that much on those games tactically. It was like the players knew when we played Arsenal how games would pan out and how we had to play to beat them."
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Although it's been almost a decade since either Manchester United or Arsenal have won the title, the Gunners head into the seismic showdown a point clear at the top of the table after making a perfect start to the new campaign.
Under Mikel Arteta's guidance, the Londoners have slowly but surely started to re-establish themselves as a top Premier League team after struggling to adapt to life without Wenger, who stepped back from his role in 2018.
Erik ten Hag has a similar rebuilding job on his hands at Old Trafford. The Dutchman appears to be making progress after a nightmare start to life in England - but he is under no illusion about the challenge Arsenal will pose his side, who head into the match off the back of three consecutive wins.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Ten Hag said: "I have seen Arsenal, tough opponent. They’ve started really well this season and you can see this is a team who have been together longer, who have a coach bringing his philosophy to the team.
"So for us it’s a good test and I’m really looking forward to it. We will pick the right XI to start. But as you see, it’s not only a team, we have a squad.
"The subs who came on [against Leicester City ] did really well. I’m happy with that and that’s what we have to construct further."
