A MIDWEEK THAT threw up a couple of nuggets from the respective pasts of Manchester United and Arsenal. 

In Paris, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was involved as a late goal completed an improbable European comeback for Manchester United. 

At an airport near Rennes, meanwhile, a cohort of Arsenal fans abused members of their own squad to continue their trend of barracking around public transport. 

You may remember supporters booing Arsene Wenger as he tried to board a train at Stoke in 2014, after a 3-2 defeat to a side that haunted the final third of his reign. “Get out while you still can, Joel”, roared one fan to Joel Campbell. (He did get out in the end – and is now on loan at Leon in Mexico having failed to score in 18 games for Serie A misfits Frosinone). 

This time around, Arsenal lost 3-1 in the first leg of their Europa League clash to Rennes, and players at the airport were assailed with shouts of ‘rubbish’. One was encouraged to “stay injured forever, you c**t”. 

So although Arsenal can go two points clear of Manchester United with a win at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon, life seems to be better as a United fan at the moment. 

The reason for this, of course, is that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is now at the wheel of the bus so fruitlessly parked by Jose Mourinho. 

Unai Emery is by no means doing a bad job at Arsenal, but he has failed to imbue everything with the sense of wild adventure and purpose that Solskjaer has at United. 

Solskjaer’s rhetoric around the exceptionalism of United is cloying to many, but has served its purpose. It has played well with the base, but it has worked with the players too: playing for something bigger than themselves, rather than Jose Mourinho’s wildly unpredictable and largely self-serving judgement, has been liberating. 

Emery, meanwhile, has clearly improved Arsenal but has struggled somewhat to convert these bare facts into that intangible sense of peace that is the hallmark of the happy football fan. 

Perhaps it is just easier to succeed Mourinho than Arsene Wenger; the immediate liberation from a miserable, restrictive regime is a more exuberant experience than the slow climb from a decade-long, lower-middle-class stasis. 

Arsenal are slowly climbing, however.

They are 12 points better off than they were at this stage of last season, and have scored nine more goals. Heck, even the defence has (slightly) improved: they’ve only conceded 39 goals thus far, compared to 41 after 29 games of last season. 

Most significantly, they remain in the hunt for a Champions League place. By this point last year, they were 13 points away from fourth place; a win against United will put them in that position. 

They would be doing much better had they not been so afflicted by defensive injuries and incompetence across the season, with Emery unable to improve these options in the January transfer window. 

Things are clearly heading in a better direction, and although the best-laid executive plans have gone awry with the sudden exit of Head of Recruitment Sven Mislintat, the club are heavily linked with transfer wizard Monchi who today left his role as Roma’s Director of Football. 

Monchi. Imago / PA Images Imago / PA Images / PA Images

Emery worked with Monchi at Sevilla, where he became renowned as one of the masters of the transfer market truffle dig, plucking gems like Dani Alves, Adriano, Ivan Rakitic from obscurity for knockdown fees. 

But should he be appointed at Arsenal, he brings with him an implict reality: the club can’t afford to operate at the highest end of the market, so have to forage about for untapped talent. 

This could work out well for Arsenal, but it will likely be a slow and imperfect process. 

So while Arsenal are generally heading in the right direction, there remains the tension between the cold, rational process of a well-run football club and the wild desires of a crowd of football fans wanting to lose themselves in something other than the anxieties and banalities of their daily lives. 

Arsenal fans need one of those head-spinning, feel-the-blood-squirting-through-veins experiences that Solskjaer has laid on so regularly for United during his reign thus far. 

They have had precious few of them thus far, the biggest so far being that fantastically narky 4-2 win over Spurs in December. 

Beating Manchester United on Sunday would be a good starting point on that front. 

Premier League Fixtures (Kick-off 3pm unless stated)

Saturday 

Crystal Palace v Brighton (12.30pm) 

Huddersfield v Bournemouth 

Southampton v Tottenham 

Leicester v Fulham 

Cardiff v West Ham

Newcastle v Everton 

Man City v Watford (5.30pm) 

Sunday 

Liverpool v Burnley (12pm) 

Chelsea v Wolves (2.05pm) 

Arsenal v Man United (4.30pm)

Andy Dunne joins Murray Kinsella and Ryan Bailey to discuss Joe Schmidt’s undroppables and how France might attack Ireland’s predictability in The42 Rugby Weekly.

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