Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is hoping that the side’s win at Old Trafford earlier in the season will help them with their upcoming league match.

We all know our record up there so there’s no need to go over that again, but the Ox believes all talk of psychological hurdles are for others to discuss – they just want to go north and do a job.

“You can definitely take confidence from any win at Old Trafford,” the Ox said. “It’s a hard place to go and win, especially against a good Manchester United side.

“It will be a tough game but we can take positives from our last trip there in the FA Cup and the win that we managed to come away with.

“That was in a high-pressured environment, as we had to win that to get through to the next round of the cup. To do it at Old Trafford is a big achievement.

“We go into every game trying to win and it hadn’t gone that way for us [in the past], but in the two Manchester fixtures this season we’ve done well and come away with two wins.

“It’s other people that will analyse it and say that we’ve stepped over a [psychological] hurdle. We just go into it and focus, as we do with every game, on coming away with the win.”

The Ox will, unfortunately, not be involved in the game. It had been hoped that he would have recovered from the groin injury which has kept him out since the FA Cup game but he is not ready according to the latest update on Arsenal.com.

With Arsenal still ahead of United and with a game in hand, a defeat in itself will not be fatal but a win will bring the side far more than just three points and the likelihood of guaranteeing automatic Champions League qualification.