THE draw for the Champions League took place in the early hours on Friday (Sep 1) morning, with Arsenal and Manchester United – who meet in the English Premier League’s (EPL) marquee showdown this weekend – now aware of whom they will face in European football’s top competition.

The Gunners can be reasonably pleased with their section, as they will face Europa League winners Sevilla, Dutch side PSV Eindhoven and France’s Lens.

The Red Devils, meanwhile, have a tougher assignment to navigate in the group stage. They have to tangle with Germany’s serial league champions Bayern Munich, Turkish team Galatasaray and Denmark’s FC Copenhagen.

But with more than two weeks to go until the start of the Champions League, the focus has quickly switched back to the EPL for what will be the final round of fixtures before the season’s first international break.

Familiar foes

There is never any love lost whenever Arsenal and Manchester United clash in England’s top division. 

Their latest battle takes place at the Emirates Stadium in North London on Sunday (11.30 pm kickoff, Singapore time), and it’s not only about the three league points at stake. For the players, managers and the fans, this is an extremely intense rivalry with pride and bragging rights on the line.

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In the days when Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson were at the helm, these two clubs battled tooth and nail for the title on a regular basis. For the nine seasons between 1995/96 and 2003/04, they dominated the EPL with United taking the crown six times and Arsenal the other three.

In a documentary aired in 2013, United’s former captain Roy Keane went so far as to say the anger he felt whenever he faced the Gunners somehow brought out the best in him.

“I had a lot of hatred for Arsenal because they were big rivals,” said the Irishman who’s now a pundit with Sky Sports. “I can’t think of any other word that springs to mind when I was going into battle with Arsenal. ‘Hatred’ was the word.”

Perhaps the most infamous match was the game known as the “Battle of the Buffet” or “Pizzagate”. At Old Trafford in October 2004, United won 2-0 to end the Gunners’ record-breaking 49-match unbeaten streak.

Arsenal midfielder Jose Antonio Reyes said after that match: “In all my sporting life, I have never received so many kicks as I did in Manchester. It was the hardest match I have played.”

Tempers flared after the final whistle and a row broke out in the tunnel between the staff and players. One of the enduring images of that afternoon was Ferguson being hit in the face by a slice of pizza, with Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas admitting years later in 2017 that he was the culprit.

Wobbly start

Both Ferguson and Wenger have long moved on as managers, and it is Mikel Arteta and Erik ten Hag who are in the managerial hot seats.

Both teams have endured a shaky start to the new season. Arsenal narrowly scraped past Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace before being held to a draw by 10-man Fulham last week.

United have been largely unconvincing as they barely beat Wolves and Forest at home, with a meek away loss to Tottenham Hotspur sandwiched in between.

It is his team’s poor away form that ten Hag will want to fix, with United losing all six games away to the other teams in the EPL’s top seven last season. The highest-ranked opponent they beat on the road was 10th-placed Fulham.

United head to North London with three key players – defenders Luke Shaw and Raphael Varane, and midfielder Mason Mount – all ruled out due to injury. In some better news, the club’s new £72 million (S$123.2 million) striker Rasmus Hojlund could finally make his debut.

Last season’s runner-up Arsenal are one of four teams with seven points, and Arteta knows his side can’t afford too many slip-ups if they are to keep pace with leaders Manchester City, the only team with a perfect nine points.

One Arsenal player who’s found his goalscoring boots is Eddie Nketiah, the 24-year-old striker who’s netted twice in the opening three games. On Thursday, he earned his first senior call-up for the England national team and is in the squad to play Ukraine next week in a Euro 2024 qualifier.

A raucous Emirates Stadium could well be the deciding factor as Arsenal and United hunt for a statement win to ignite their respective EPL title pushes.