Wenger faces MU test

Under-fire Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is in pressing need of a positive outcome as his side prepare to welcome Premier League leaders Manchester United to the Emirates Stadium this Sunday.

Fourth-place Arsenal are only three points below United, but Wenger's methods have once again fallen under scrutiny following the London club's abject 3-2 home defeat by Olympiakos in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The result left Arsenal struggling to avoid a first group-stage exit since 1999 and saw Wenger aggressively rebuked in the British press for his decision to select second-choice goalkeeper David Ospina, who palmed a first-half corner into his own net, instead of new signing Petr Cech.

Wenger came out fighting in his weekly press conference on Friday, branding the media's focus on Ospina "very, very, very, very boring" and threatening to walk out when he was asked about Jose Mourinho's claim that he is the only English top-flight manager free from pressure.

Defeat at United's hands would only provide further fuel for those critics who cite Arsenal's 11-year wait for a league title and five successive last-16 eliminations in the Champions League as proof that Wenger is presiding over a period of terminal decline.

But Wenger would point to Arsenal's successive FA Cup triumphs as evidence to the contrary and having seen his team end Leicester City's unbeaten start to the season with a 5-2 win at the King Power Stadium last weekend, he is confident of a first home win over United since May 2011.

"It is a special fixture because usually Man United are always fighting at the top," said the Frenchman, who shared a tumultuous rivalry with former United manager Alex Ferguson between 1997 and 2005.

"It has an even bigger meaning now because there are three points between the teams and we play at home in a big game.

"We have just come from a big win at Leicester and we want to continue our run. We are the only team who has beaten (Leicester), so I don't see why we should not believe we can beat Manchester United."

United manager Louis van Gaal describes Wenger, who this week celebrates 19 years with Arsenal, as "one of the best coaches in the world", but says that he would not like to endure a comparable league title drought.