The Athletic has live coverage of Arsenal vs. Manchester United.

Once upon a time, this was the biggest fixture in the Premier League.

Fluctuating fortunes for Arsenal and Manchester United over the past 20 years have meant it has been a long time since these clubs have been the top two, vying with one another for the title.

Mikel Arteta’s Londoners are currently top of the table, 15 points clear of United, who are now under the stewardship of interim head coach Michael Carrick after the recent firing of Ruben Amorim. But after the jubilation of a derby victory over Manchester City at Old Trafford last weekend in Carrick’s first match, United fans may fancy their chances at the Emirates Stadium today (Sunday).

Our Arsenal writer Amy Lawrence and her United counterpart Chris McKenna discuss the game.

How do you expect your club’s manager to approach this match?

Amy Lawrence: All out to win. Arteta is in that fascinating headspace for any ambitious manager when the need to balance rotation, selecting a team to win the various levels of contest in front of them, while protecting and preserving the fitness of the most important players, can be a conundrum.

But Arteta being Arteta, he has gone pretty strong in the Carabao Cup and in the Champions League at Inter, the latter when a top-two finish was virtually set whatever the outcome. United will have had a full week to rest, train and prepare for this — not a luxury that is familiar to Arsenal this season — but the home side will be expected to go full tilt at this one.

Chris McKenna: This will be similar to the City game. It will be about United being comfortable with the opposition having lots of the ball but ensuring they have to work hard with it by pressing them at the right times from a 4-4-2 formation and being ready to counter-attack swiftly when they win possession back.

Expect similar scenes to the derby, where United utilised quick, direct passing to get out at the back and then used diagonals to stretch City, all while playing with high intensity. They will need to be more clinical against Arsenal, because they are not likely to get as many chances against the league’s best defence as they did last Saturday.

What is the biggest tactical issue facing your club?

Amy: The choice of centre-forward remains the most live issue. Viktor Gyokeres, fresh from scoring exactly the kind of goal everyone imagined he’d provide when he signed in the summer, is unlikely to get the amount of space to hurtle into in the Premier League that he enjoyed at San Siro, so weighing up his characteristics to start versus those of the more mobile and tricksy Gabriel Jesus is significant.

Kai Havertz is waiting in the wings, but it seems Arsenal are treading cautiously with the final stages of his return to fitness, having been out since the reverse fixture on the first Sunday of the season back in August. Stylistically and tactically, it is more about the intensity Arteta’s team can muster than tweaks to an approach they use consistently.

Chris: For most of this season, it has been a struggle to get the right balance in midfield. Casemiro has been excellent, but it has always felt that area of the pitch has been a vulnerable one in Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation.

Carrick appeared to get it right with Kobbie Mainoo alongside Casemiro against City but, more importantly, Patrick Dorgu and Amad would come in off the wings to make it narrow and offer the 33-year-old Brazilian support and an outlet when he won possession. United’s tweaked midfield system will be given a sterner test by Arsenal than it got last weekend, though.

Casemiro celebrating during the Manchester derby (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

What do you think of Sesko and Gyokeres’ start to their time in the Premier League? Would either have done better at a different club?

Amy: Well, that really depends on what different club you have in mind. Clearly, the expectations of a marquee striker signing at Arsenal or Manchester United are volcanic. Unfortunately for both Gyokeres and United’s Benjamin Sesko, they have started life in the Premier League with more of a gentle rumble than a dramatic eruption.

It is hard to predict with any certainty that either would have fared better had they effectively switched and gone to the other club instead, as the mental challenge of adapting to life at the sharp end of a high-pressure, high-stakes club would be the same. Space and opportunities are at a premium. Gyokeres is not the only newcomer to Arsenal who has found it hard against packed, low blocks, which they routinely face in the league. Perhaps United’s games are slightly more open.

Chris: You would have thought a top No 9 walking into such a good Arsenal team would score plenty more goals than Gyokeres has. He’s looked lost in some games and maybe over time they’ll adapt to each other. Yet if this continues and they don’t go on to win the title, his lack of goals will be pinpointed as a reason.

Sesko showed against Burnley and Brighton recently that there are signs of promise, but more is needed from him, given the price tag (a deal rising to £73.7million). Under Amorim, Gyokeres probably would have fitted better at United and Sesko would probably have scored more in a settled Arsenal side than his five so far, as well as offered better hold-up play. It will be interesting to see how Sesko will fit in now under Carrick.

Sesko celebrates scoring for United against Burnley earlier this month (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Does this rivalry still matter? How does it compare to others?

Amy: The scale of importance that this rivalry holds depends a lot on your age. Anyone who lived through the magnificent enmity between Arsenal and Manchester United from the late 1980s to early 2000s will find the fire still burns. At that time, it appeared to be the most intense rivalry in the Premier League for both teams.

A younger audience might not feel it that deeply. The local matter of Tottenham Hotspur and the more direct opposition with Manchester City and Liverpool, in terms of the quest for trophies, are what get their juices flowing. But for the older generation, that fierce edge with United is always there, just beneath the surface.

Chris: The rivalry is a long way from the Sir Alex Ferguson-Arsene Wenger days, but even that started to temper down in Ferguson’s final years, with United facing different teams in the title race, while now it is Arsenal who are battling for the big trophies as United tread water.

Yet it is still a big fixture in the calendar for United supporters, some of whom have found themselves in an awkward situation of preferring Sunday’s opponents to win the league because of who that would stop lifting the trophy. While Manchester City and Liverpool may be bigger rivals, plenty do still see Arteta’s side as sworn enemies, and this game matters so much to them that who wins the league will be far from their minds.

Match predictions?

Amy: The most I am willing to predict is that the Arsenal anxiety-ometer will have moments where the needle lurches into the danger zone. Unless Arteta’s team have an electric start and take a quick and convincing lead, which has not been a strength for them so far this season, the need to grasp all the points will bring a certain tension into the game.

So many of their recent matches have been tight, and Arsenal have been stung by United at the Emirates on the counter-attack in the past, so there is an inevitable wariness that this could be too close for comfort.

Chris: United must replicate the intensity of their performance against City to stand a chance of getting anything out of this game to boost their Champions League qualification hopes, and they will need similar displays of brilliance from the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire, Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro and Mainoo to compete with title-chasing Arsenal.

After a big impact against City off the bench and causing plenty of problems in the 1-0 defeat against Arsenal at Old Trafford in August, this could be a moment for maverick Matheus Cunha to grab a late equaliser in an entertaining 2-2 draw.