Manchester United vs. Arsenal Preview and FCB vs. VFL Wolfsburg

This is the first test within the Top Four, and if last season is anything to go off, MUFC will be hoping for Sunday to come quickly. Last season MUFC took only 5 points from a possible 18 in the battle of the top four, with a draw at Chelsea, a win at home against Chelsea, and a draw at Old Trafford against Arsenal. Liverpool made United look basic with a 2-1 win at Anfield and then that horrible 4-1 spanking at Old Trafford. In November, Manchester United went to the Emirates and lost 2-1 off of two fantastic Nasri strikes… However, we won the title because we beat the lower teams, Liverpool and Chelsea drew too many games against the likes of Stoke City, Hull City, and Middlesbrough.

This year, it is still way to early to tell. Arsenal look smashing, but their win against Portsmouth is hard to measure. Portsmouth looked absolutely dismal last week, my senior year high school team could have beat “Pompey.”

Let’ go back to the 92-93 season (when the Premier League officialy began and left the old system in the dust), and work forward and see how United do at home against the Gunners. United score listed first:

92-93, 0-0

93-94, 1-0

94-95, 3-0

95-96, 1-0

96-97, 1-0

97-98, 0-1

98-99, 1-1

99-00, 1-1

00-01, 6-1

01-02, 0-1

02-03, 2-0

03-04, (Arsenal’s famous “invincible” season where they went undefeated for 38 games) 0-0

04-05, 2-0

05-06, 2-0

06-07, 0-1

07-08, 2-1

08-09, 0-0

09-10 ??

Let’s hope for some goals, these matches used to be extremely violent and aggresive with players getting abused after missing penalties (Ruud van Nistelrooy). I predict a 2-1 United win solely because of playing at Old Trafford with some confidence after the slaying of Wigan…

Also this weekend in Munich can FC Hollywood (Bayern) overturn the return fixture from last season against (the eventual champions) Wolfsburg? They beat them handily 5-1, and below is arguably the goal of the Bundesliga last year: Oh Grafite!

Bayern are having a wobble. They have collected 2 points from a possible 9, and this is unacceptable for Bayern. They are the perennial champions of the Bundesliga and a loss last weekend to newly promoted Mainz was horrific. It was no fluke, they deserved to lose. Wolfsburg are still steamrolling, but were slowed down by a Hamburg side who look absolutely stunning (in a Bundesliga sort of way). They would not beat the big guns of European football, but they are fluid in that next tier of European football. One of my favorite Bundesliga players, Mladen Petric is fantastic. He was great with Dortmund and once he settled in with Hamburg last season he has been a revelation.

Last thing, look how happy those Bayern players look in their Lederhosen und Bier, “das ist gut!” I predict a Wolfsburg win of 3-2.

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