Manchester United travel to Arsenal in FA Cup third round clash

A look ahead to a highly anticipated clash.

Transcript

00:00Manchester United's next challenge, FA Cup time and it's a trophy they are defending

00:07of course. Surely it's going to be high up on their priority list. But then also looking

00:12at the draw at Anfield, a lot of positives on that United performance. It seemed they

00:19were more resilient, more solid and going forward as well they had some good success.

00:25How do you look at that FA Cup game? Is it viewed as a big priority for Ubud Amram to

00:30retain that title this season?

00:32I think given the poor start to life Amram has had at Old Trafford, it very much is so.

00:37I think the challenge, not only United managers but the managers of most of those top, the

00:42traditional top four, probably the top eight now in the Premier League, they all have that

00:46trophy question mark held against them and until they've won a trophy it's always going

00:50to be a burden on their shoulders. Ten Hag went too much the other way where he used

00:57the trophy success to excuse the poor form in the Premier League. The Premier League

01:01is always going to be your bread and butter as a manager. You've got to be challenging

01:04for the title seriously every single year and you've got to long term be challenging

01:08for the Champions League as well. You almost take for granted traditionally that United

01:12win out of the FA Cup or the League Cup. So it's not the barometer of success at Man United

01:17winning the FA Cup. If United finished bottom half and won the FA Cup it would not be a

01:21successful season. There's no way of painting it that way, even if Amram took charge for

01:26over half of it. I think in terms of Arsenal this weekend, what United need to see, it's

01:32not necessarily victory at the Emirates. If they lose this weekend but put in a marked

01:37improvement on that Premier League display against Arsenal last month, then that's probably

01:41good enough. That's another sign that they're in the right direction. The Anfield draw last

01:47weekend felt like a point gained. But Bruno Fernandes said after the game, look, it's

01:51so easy to get motivated for Liverpool away. He's worried about Southampton at home next

01:55week and Arsenal away this weekend as well is another game in which United go in as underdogs,

02:00almost a bit of a free hit to just show what they're made of, to give it a real good go

02:05and hopefully win the tie on the day. But ultimately it will not define their season.

02:11United want to go there. They want to show that they've improved from their last visit

02:15to the Emirates. They want to make sure they don't concede from two corner kicks again

02:18as they did last time. And I think this weekend, that's what it's all about. It's a clear sort

02:24of mark to show how far they've come. Amram said, look, as soon as we start having midweeks

02:29off, there'll be a huge improvement. United had last week off. They went to Anfield and

02:34they were much better. They've had another free midweek. So we have to expect much better

02:38for them when they go to play Arsenal this weekend. I think that's what United fans are

02:41looking for. They're not going to be too upset if they do lose because Arsenal are

02:45just a better football club at this moment in time, but they will be disappointed if

02:49the performance isn't much better than their last trip to the Emirates.