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Manchester United vs Arsenal FA Cup Qtr Final Preview

The highlight of this week’s football fixtures takes place at Old Trafford on Saturday tea time as Manchester United and Arsenal turn their attention from chasing the Premier League to an FA Cup quarter final fixture.

Both sides are coming off the back of disappointing 3-1 away defeats to Liverpool and Barcelona and they will look to show there title credentials and book a Wembley semi final. The performances of both sides in there last fixtures was nothing less than poor and they will look to show there mental strength in the business end of the season and hope to gain a psychological edge in the title race.

Manchester United go into this fixture welcoming back Nemanja Vidic from suspension and his loss in United’s team was evident last Sunday, while Darren Fletcher should be fit following an illness. However, the loss of Luis Nani will be a massive blow and Antonio Valencia is not yet ready to return to first team action.  United face a Champions League fixture on Tuesday against Marseille with the tie balanced at 0-0. It will be interesting as to whether Sir Alex Ferguson will decide to rest some key players with one eye on this encounter.

Arsenal on the other hand do not have a midweek fixture and injuries mean that boss Arsene Wenger may not be able to make as many changes as he would like. Robin Van Perise is likely to captain the side after only playing 55 minutes in Barcelona on Tuesday. Wenger may decide to rest Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy and Jack Wilshere with Emmanuel Eboue, Kieran Gibbs and Denilson set to deputise. Arsenal will want to win and progress in the cup after being knocked out of the Carling Cup and the Champions League in the past two weeks, it is looking like the Gunners season is beginning to fall apart.

Both teams have had some fantastic cup encounters over the years and this could be yet another one. Whoever wins the tie would be favourites to go on and win the cup and a replay will not be wanted by either side with big fixtures coming thick and fast.

Prediction: 1-1. I just cant separate the two and think it will be heading back to the Emirates.

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