Share
Erik ten Hag has warned Arsenal that Manchester United have a plan to compensate for Casemiro’s absence at the Emirates on Sunday.
The Brazil star has been hugely influential for United since signing from Real Madrid for £65m in the summer, but he will miss this weekend’s game after picking up a one-match ban for a booking at Crystal Palace in midweek.
However, Casemiro only played the last 10 minutes as a substitute when Ten Hag engineered a 3-1 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford in early September, and the United boss believes he has a game plan to beat the Gunners again.
That was Arsenal’s only Premier League defeat of the season, with Mikel Arteta’s side going on a 12-match unbeaten run – including 10 wins and two draws – to open up a five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the table.
United are a further three points behind in third place and Ten Hag is determined to seize the opportunity to make up ground on his opponents.
“We beat Arsenal last time without Casemiro. We have an idea of how to deal with that,” said the Dutchman, who must wait to find out if Anthony Martial and Diogo Dalot have recovered from injury in time.
“It is obvious they are in a really good run and I think they deserve the position where they are now. It is a really good structure, how they play.
“It is a really good mentality and a winning attitude in the team. That is why they are top of the list. They are in a great run. It is up to us to beat (stop) their run and we will do everything to do that.
“In the moment we played them, you could see the manager and the coaching staff were already working for a long time on the team. You see really good structures on the team.
“They have even improved during the first half of the season. There is a really good spirit in their team, so we know what to do.
We have to be really good. We need a really good performance. But if we do, I think we have a good chance also to get out of that performance a good result.”