Forward of Manchester United’s journey to Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, Wayne Rooney triggered debate when requested how Mikel Arteta’s workforce would fare in opposition to the United facet of 2007-08, which gained the Premier League and Champions League.
On Amazon Prime’s Champions League protection, Rooney was requested the query by Theo Walcott, the previous ahead, and responded bluntly: “We’d batter them.”
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Right here, Telegraph Sport analyses how the 2 groups stack up in opposition to one another and whether or not Rooney’s evaluation was truthful.
Arsenal Manchester United
Defence
On their option to profitable the Premier League title, United conceded solely 22 objectives (0.58 objectives per sport). Sir Alex Ferguson’s defence in that season was constructed totally on the exceptional centre-back pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, who’re broadly considered among the finest duos in Premier League historical past.
Ferdinand and Vidic each made greater than 30 league appearances in 2007-08, whereas probably the most frequent full-back pairing was Wes Brown (right-back) and Patrice Evra (left-back). Evra was maybe on the top of his powers in that marketing campaign, with Ferguson saying he had developed into “among the finest full-backs in world soccer”.
Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand fashioned a dominant centre-back pairing that was pivotal to Manchester United’s dominance in 2008 – Getty Photos/Alex Livesey
The present Arsenal facet are equally sturdy on the again, with their defensive duo of William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães providing a comparable degree of energy, technical capacity and aggression to Ferdinand and Vidic. Of these 4 centre-backs, Gabriel affords probably the most attacking menace from set-pieces. It may be argued that Saliba and Gabriel now play with extra calls for in possession than Ferdinand and Vidic did.
William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes have helped Arsenal declare the most effective defensive file within the Premier League – Getty Photos/Stuart MacFarlane
Forward of Sunday’s sport on the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal have conceded 14 objectives in 22 video games this season (0.64 objectives per sport). Their defensive file is due to this fact solely marginally worse than United’s in 2007-08.
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Maybe the wonderful Jurrien Timber would begin forward of Brown in a mixed workforce, however that might be argued both means. Within the fashionable sport, Arsenal followers may say, David Raya’s supreme capacity on the ball would make him a greater goalkeeping choice than Edwin van der Sar.
Verdict: Shut, however Ferdinand and Vidic had all of it. United.
Assault
The United facet of 2007-08 featured one of the vital thrilling entrance traces assembled in Ferguson’s 26 years at Previous Trafford. His assault contained Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez. Between them, these three forwards scored 79 objectives in all competitions. They may produce all method of objectives, too, with United’s entrance line able to unpicking tight defences or scoring with breathtaking counter-attacking efforts.
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The 2007-08 marketing campaign was the best in a United shirt for Ronaldo, who subsequently went on to win the Ballon d’Or for the primary time later that yr. Ronaldo scored 31 objectives in 34 league matches and 42 objectives in 49 appearances total.
United’s different attacking gamers that yr included Louis Saha (5 objectives), Ryan Giggs (4 objectives) and Nani (4 objectives), nevertheless it was the triumvirate of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez which actually fired the workforce in direction of success.
How does the Arsenal assault of 2026 evaluate to this? Not effectively, in reality. Arteta has quite a lot of ahead choices at his disposal, together with star winger Bukayo Saka and three centre-forwards in Viktor Gyokeres, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, however none of them are at the moment providing the identical aim menace that United’s class of 2008 posed.
Viktor Gyokeres has struggled to stay as much as expectations at Arsenal – Getty Photos/Marc Atkins
To date this season, there aren’t any Arsenal gamers with greater than 5 objectives within the Premier League. The mixed tally of league objectives of all of Arsenal’s centre-forwards and wingers this season is 14. In 2007-08, the trio of Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney contributed 57 objectives within the league.
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Verdict: No debate. United.
Star energy
Within the present Arsenal workforce, the likes of Saka, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard are extraordinarily recognisable gamers with nice reputations within the sport. Gyokeres, too, is a person who generated a lot pleasure when he joined the membership that his duplicate shirt bought in file numbers within the membership store.
Are any of those gamers globally recognised superstars like Rooney and Ronaldo had been in 2008, although? Not in the meanwhile. Rooney was maybe probably the most well-known footballer in Britain on the time, whereas Ronaldo was being broadly recognised as the most effective participant on the planet as he scored aim after aim.
Manchester United’s 2008 facet featured a bunch of worldwide recognised skills – Getty Photos/John Peters
There was additionally star energy at United related to the enduring treble-winning facet of 1999. Giggs was an enormous identify within the sport, as was Paul Scholes. Ferdinand, too, had been a high-profile determine for a lot of the earlier decade.
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Saka and Rice may at some point attain these ranges of fame and glamour, however they continue to be a way wanting it now.
Verdict: United. That they had gamers with historic success and the brand new international famous person.
Supervisor
Arteta may at some point hope to hitch Ferguson as a serial trophy winner, however he’s actually not there but. The Spaniard has gained one main honour as a supervisor, the FA Cup in 2020.
By the 2007-08 season, in contrast, Ferguson already had greater than 15 main titles below his belt at United alone, having already lifted 10 trophies at Aberdeen.
Arsenal’s FA Cup triumph in 2020 stays Mikel Arteta’s solely trophy as supervisor – Getty Photos/Catherine Ivill
Arteta is, nonetheless, a lot youthful than Ferguson was in 2007-08. The Arsenal supervisor will likely be 44 when the season ends, whereas Ferguson was 66 in 2008.
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The 2 males do have some similarities of their fashion. Arteta now has an enormous quantity of energy at Arsenal, the place he’s a lot greater than a head coach. His all-encompassing management method means he has affect on each space of the membership. Ferguson wielded the identical (albeit even larger) energy at Previous Trafford, though it can take many extra years and lots of extra trophies for Arteta to ever match as much as the Scotsman.
Verdict: United. No debate.
Huge-game file
United misplaced 5 video games within the 2007-08 Premier League marketing campaign, which was greater than Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in that season. Barely embarrassingly, two of these losses got here in opposition to native rivals Manchester Metropolis. It was the primary time Metropolis had carried out the double over United since 1970.
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United additionally stumbled in one of many greatest matches of the title race, dropping at Chelsea in late April. That sport put Chelsea degree on factors with United with two matches remaining.
Other than that defeat at Stamford Bridge, United’s file in opposition to the most effective groups within the league was glorious. They took 4 factors from two video games in opposition to Arsenal, and 6 factors from their two video games in opposition to Liverpool.
In Europe, maybe their finest big-game efficiency got here within the Champions League semi-final in opposition to a star-studded Barcelona workforce that included a younger Lionel Messi.
A shocking aim from Scholes secured victory at Previous Trafford. Previous to that, United loved a comparatively simple run within the competitors, with the earlier knockout video games coming in opposition to Roma and Lyon.
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Arsenal would argue they’ve already crushed extra elite-level groups in Europe this season than United did in that Champions League-winning marketing campaign. Arsenal have thrashed Atlético Madrid, defeated Bayern Munich and comfortably crushed Inter Milan already this marketing campaign.
Within the Premier League, although, Arsenal have suffered defeats in video games in opposition to rivals Liverpool and Aston Villa. To date this season they’ve additionally didn’t beat Metropolis and Chelsea within the league.
Verdict: Let’s return to this in Could. In Europe, Arsenal are dominating large video games in spectacular style.
Squad depth
Right here is an space during which Arsenal may really have the sting. The depth of Arteta’s squad is extraordinary, with two high-class gamers for every place (when everyone seems to be match). Throughout the defence, midfield and assault, Arteta is ready to rotate with out compromising an excessive amount of on high quality.
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Was the identical true of United in 2007-08? In all probability not. The bodily calls for of the sport had been completely different then, so maybe they didn’t want fairly so many prime gamers. That they had an especially sturdy midfield – Scholes, Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves and Anderson all made not less than 20 appearances in all competitions – however didn’t have the identical depth in different areas.
Arsenal’s assortment of defenders, for instance, make for a stronger complete unit than the eight defenders who performed probably the most video games for United.
Arsenal bolstered their squad with quite a few new signings in the summertime, together with defender Cristhian Mosquera – Getty Photos/Stuart MacFarlane
Arsenal’s present second-choice goalkeeper and again 4 is: Kepa Arrizabalaga (goalkeeper), Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera, Piero Hincapie and Myles Lewis-Skelly. United’s reserve defence was Tomasz Kuszczak (goalkeeper), John O’Shea, a younger Gerard Pique, Mikael Silvestre and Danny Simpson.
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Verdict: Arsenal have the larger power in depth.
Last verdict
In a one-off match, the United of 2007-08 can be sturdy favourites to defeat the present Arsenal, primarily due to the exceptional firepower at their disposal. Even the wonderful duo of Saliba and Gabriel would battle to include Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo.
On the different finish, the present Arsenal entrance line lacks the identical menace within the ultimate third. Ferdinand and Vidic would most likely really feel fairly assured that they may shut out Arteta’s forwards. The battle between Evra and Saka can be fascinating although.
Manchester United win.