Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has sent a clear warning to Manchester United and Ruben Amorim ahead of their Premier League clash on the opening weekend.
After five pre-season fixtures across Sweden, the United States, and Old Trafford, Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United are set to begin their 2025/26 Premier League campaign next weekend.
The summer tour brought wins over West Ham and Bournemouth, while draws against Leeds United, Everton, and Fiorentina kept the Reds unbeaten.
With preparations complete, Amorim’s focus is now firmly on the Premier League season opener, a Sunday, 17 August clash with Arsenal at Old Trafford.
The high-profile fixture will see several debuts, with Benjamin Šeško, Matheus Cunha, and Bryan Mbeumo expected to feature for United.
On the opposite side, Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Zubimendi, and Noni Madueke are among those set to make their first competitive appearances under Mikel Arteta.
Arteta sends clear warning to United
United’s new striker Šeško was unable to feature for the club over pre-season as he only signed on the weekend and so he could well start on the bench for the opening clash.
Rasmus Højlund is expected to leave the club and Amorim decided to start the final pre-season game without a recognised striker, which created difficulties for the Reds.
Amorim himself admitted after the game that United ‘struggled’ when playing one against one across the pitch as they did not have that natural striker upfront.
Arsenal on the other hand have managed to get three pre-season fixtures out of their new striker Gyokeres and the Swede scored last time out against Athletic Club.
With the Gunners set to have their new man starting the opening clash, Arteta has fired a warning to Amorim that Gyokeres thrives in those one on one moments he mentioned.
“I think his goals, his threat, I think he pins both centre-backs. He’s a player that when you leave him with space, one against one he is going to destroy you,” Arteta said on the weekend.
“So he is going to create a lot of space for us, and in any situation he is a player who can score a goal.”
United vs Arsenal is written for Gyokeres or Šeško to shine
Fortunately for Amorim, he knows all about the strengths and weaknesses of Gyokeres after working with him at Sporting.
Meanwhile, the United boss will be hoping that Šeško shows enough during the week to prove he is ready to start the season opener at Old Trafford.
Šeško only missed a small portion of RB Leipzig’s pre-season before his move was complete, meaning that he is not in the same situation as when Bryan Mbeumo arrived at the club and had not had any training at Brentford.
It will certainly be interesting if both strikers are on the pitch to start the season. If you asked fans about them three months ago, everyone would assume that Gyokeres was lining up for United and Šeško for Arsenal.
The fixture is lined up perfectly for one of them to steal the show and United fans will be desperate that it is another new signing scoring on their debut in a win against the Gunners.
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