It seems Arsenal have managed to develop past their weakness of losing to bigger teams this season and Arsene Wenger believes this is crucial when it comes to the psychology of the players.

Speaking recently, the manager hammered home to importance of beating our close rivals, using the example of our trip to Old Trafford on Sunday. He said, “First of all we can mathematically put a distance between [Man United] and us in the top four and basically secure the top three. Also, we can make a symbolic statement because we won over there in the FA Cup. To reproduce that would be psychologically important.”

The Gunners have already beaten Manchester United on their home soil once this season in the FA Cup and the boss was keen to highlight the confidence this gives our players.

“To do it again would convince us more that we have the strength and can be even stronger next season and show that we have made progress. In the recent years it was a difficult ground for us and that is what we want to show: that we have made progress.”

The manager also revealed how his team intend to approach this match, which, if we lose, will see Man United climb above us into third.

“I like to go there and play well because it’s a great stadium. We have good, fantastic and very bad memories but that’s part of life in football. What we want is to show that we are a solid team.”

He added, “Since January we have produced consistent performances and we have also been very strong away from home. We have an opportunity to show that we have made progress. Any result will be a positive result. A draw or a win would be great for us.”

Last time we faced Man United in the Premier League, they won 2-1 and it’s up to us to truly believe we can get a result at their home ground, like in the FA Cup.

Hopefully we bounce back from our poor result against Swansea City and show them what we can do.