Manchester United versus Arsenal has been defined by great midfield battles over the years. Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira had such an intense rivalry that a documentary was made about their battles in what was the biggest fixture in English football at the time.
Over a six-year period, whoever came out on top in the fixture would usually go on to win the Premier League title. Its grandeur was lost when Arsenal began to fade, their decline summed up by their 8-2 hammering at Old Trafford in 2011. And the once unmissable fixture almost became irrelevant at the start of this decade.
Sunday's match will have all eyes on it once more due to its impact on the title race, albeit only for Arsenal. While the Gunners need to win to keep pushing Manchester City all the way, it has become almost a non-event for United. Most Red Devils' fans are counting the days for this dreadful season to come to an end after they reached a new low with their crushing defeat by Crystal Palace on Monday.
And the contrasting states of the two teams can be summed up by their midfields. The Gunners can boast Declan Rice, one of the top players in the league and who has spearheaded their impressive title bid. United meanwhile, have Casemiro, who has become a laughing stock and was the main scapegoat of the battering at Selhurst Park.
But what is most galling for United is the nagging feeling that with a bit more foresight and long-term planning, they could have signed Rice for roughly the same amount of money they splurged on the languid Brazilian...
