Arsenal are missing club-record signing Alexandre Lacazette as they welcome Premier League rivals Manchester United to the Emirates Stadium later today.

The France international was forced off at half-time in Wednesday’s 5-0 victory over Huddersfield due to a groin injury and manager Arsene Wenger has ruled him out of the game against the Red Devils.

A hamstring problem also saw Alexis Sanchez substituted in the Huddersfield win but Wenger is more optimistic over his availability while Alex Iwobi (leg) could also be back in contention. Santi Cazorla (Achilles) is a long-term absentee.

Manchester United are without Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Marouane Fellaini while Nemanja Matic is a doubt.

Injury has sidelined defensive pair Jones (thigh) and Bailly for the last four matches, and Fellaini for the last one, Tuesday’s 4-2 win at Watford.

Fellow midfielder Matic is being assessed having come off in the second half at Vicarage Road with what boss Jose Mourinho has described as a muscular issue. Skipper Michael Carrick has been building his fitness after having a cardiac ablation to deal with an irregular heart rhythm.

Arsenal squad: Cech, Ospina, Mertesacker, Holding, Koscielny, Mustafi, Chambers, Monreal, Debuchy, Bellerin, Nelson, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Ramsey, Wilshere, Xhaka, Elneny, Ozil, Iwobi, Walcott, Sanchez, Welbeck, Giroud.

Man Utd squad: De Gea, Romero, Lindelof, Rojo, Smalling, Valencia, Young, Darmian, Blind, Shaw, Tuanzebe, Pogba, Matic, Herrera, McTominay, Mata, Lingard, Mkhitaryan, Martial, Rashford, Lukaku, Ibrahimovic.

 

Did you know?

Arsenal have lost only one of their last five Premier League home matches against Manchester United (W2 D2), winning each of the last two without conceding a goal.

But no team have won more PL away matches at Arsenal than Manchester United (7, level with Liverpool) and only Chelsea (4) have won more at Emirates Stadium than United’s three.

Arsenal have won their last 12 home PL matches in a row, last enjoying a longer run between February and November 2005 at Highbury (13).

Mesut Ozil has been directly involved in four goals in his last four PL appearances versus Man Utd (two goals, two assists).

What the managers say

Arsene Wenger: “Man Utd are a dangerous team, they have made fantastic results so to beat a team like that you need to be at your best and that’s what I want to focus on.”

 

Jose Mourinho: “When we have the ball, we are going to attack with 11 players because even the goalkeeper needs to know what to do when we have the ball. When Arsenal has the ball, we are going to defend with 11 players.”