Arsenal welcome struggling Sheffield United to the Emirates on Saturday afternoon with the Blades looking to stop a five match losing streak. Meanwhile the Gunners are still unbeaten this season after rescuing a point late on against London rivals Chelsea last week.
The pressure on United’s manager Paul Heckingbottom to get a result is ever-increasing as reports suggest. It would be a big shock if the Blades were able to pick up even a point against such formidable opponents. While Arsenal fans see this as an easy fixture and one to improve their goal difference, Sheffield United supporters are fearing a scoreline like the one they suffered against Newcastle.
Opposition fans
“There’s been so much talk about Luton bring one of the worst PL side ever. Think Sheffield is worse than Luton.”
“Its a Championship team. Strangely enough the owner is a member of Saudi Arabia’s ruling royal family.”
“A very easy win. I can even see farmers like Ödegaard and Nketiah score against this crap.”
“Nice easy game, we should get a few goals. A clean sheet would be nice as well.”
“Absolute must win and I’d go as far as saying anything less than total domination by us will be disappointing. I’d hate us to even let them have any shots on target, such should be our control in this one.”
“Must win, easy win.”
“Nice, easy and relaxed win. Supporters at the Emirates will be chilling with a nice cuppa for this game.”
“Imma need a haul for this one come on lads.”
“Nothing short of a total annihilation of these scrubs. Goal difference bonanza coming.”
“Anything less than 3:0 win here you adjust expectations for the season because they’re the worst team in the league by a mile.”
Key stats
Arsenal maintains an undefeated record in this season’s Premier League, with six wins and three draws. They lead the league in clean sheets with four. Following their 1-0 victory over Manchester City prior to the international break, Mikel Arteta’s team is aiming to achieve back-to-back home clean sheets, a feat they haven’t accomplished since December 2021 when they had a four-game streak.
On the other hand, Sheffield United is yet to secure a win in the Premier League this season, having earned only one point from nine matches, all of which they lost. The last time they had such a slow start was in the 20/21 season when they also managed just one point in their first 10 games.
This season’s scenario is a rare one in English top-flight football, as it’s been nearly a century since we’ve seen an unbeaten team (Arsenal) and a winless team (Sheffield United) facing off in the 10th game of a season, similar to an occurrence in the 1923/24 season when Cardiff, who were unbeaten, played against winless Preston in their 11th game [BBC].
Opinion
Last week against Manchester United I was optimistic and predicted a 1-1 draw. This week I’m not optimistic in the slightest. I am fearful for Saturday, in all honesty. In my match preview I talked about one of the best wide forwards in the league, Bukayo Saka versus Luke Thomas, one of the weakest left-backs in the division. I do think a couple of goals can be scored via this avenue.
I’m going for a 3-1 Arsenal victory.
