Juan Mata has admitted that United are ‘tired’ ahead of the show down at the Emirates this weekend and Arsenal fans everywhere will hope that he means ‘physically exhausted’ given their showing in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Sunday’s game represents a chance for Arsenal to close the gap on the league leaders completely but with the Gunners suffering a crisis of confidence after their mid-week humiliation, it is a brave soul who is predicting that Arsenal can end their United hoodoo.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 30: Juan Mata of Manchester United applauds the crowd after victory in the UEFA Champions League Group B match between Manchester United FC and VfL Wolfsburg at Old Trafford on September 30, 2015 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 30: Juan Mata of Manchester United applauds the crowd after victory in the UEFA Champions League Group B match between Manchester United FC and VfL Wolfsburg at Old Trafford on September 30, 2015 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

As we know, it doesn’t really matter how poorly United are playing, all they have to do is turn up at the Emirates and we present them with our arses and the points.

Speaking to the media after the match, Mata said “It was a very tough game because we were physically tired at the end.

“But we did what we had to do.

“We knew we had to win today. We are happy today.”

While Louis van Gaal also mentioned that the extra day’s rest that Arsenal had could be critical. He told the press “We have to recover, recover and recover because Sunday is Arsenal and they played yesterday, so they have one more day of recovery.”

Hopefully Arsene Wenger and his bunch of merry midgets got the wake up call required after shipping three to Olympiacos.

Then again, we’ve been hoping for that wake up call to come for a few years now.