Games between Arsenal and Manchester United used to be one of the highlights of the Premier League season.
The two clubs were the best in the league, with games between them having the potential to decide who would be crowned champions.
But it wasn’t always that way, and it hasn’t been for some time.
Ahead of Sunday’s clash between the Gunners and United at the Emirates, football.london are taking a look at the stats behind the fixture’s rise and fall.
Head-to-head
Sunday’s match at the Emirates will be the 233rd game between the two sides in all competitions, according to figures taken from 11v11.com.
Manchester United are looking for their 100th win over the Gunners, having won 99 of the clashes so far.
Arsenal are currently lagging behind the Red Devils in head to head fixtures and have 84 wins to their name, while 49 matches between them have ended in draws.
Almost 700 goals have been scored in the fixture over the years, with the aggregate score currently being Arsenal 328 - 252 Manchester United despite the disparity in wins.
Growing financial gap
Manchester United have had a financial advantage over Arsenal for over 15 years, with the current gap at the widest it has been between both sides.
When Arsenal last won the league in 2003/04 United had a turnover of £171.5m and Arsenal of £115.0m. That’s a difference of £56.5m.
The gap shrank to as little as £3.3m in 2006/07 but has been growing ever since.
When United last won the league in 2012/13 the gap had reached £119.6m, and by 2018/19, the last season for which figures are available, it stood at a massive £231.5m.
Always on top?
When Leeds United finished third in the Premier League in the 1999/00 season their manager, David O’Leary remarked that his young side had “won the other league.”
Arsenal and Manchester United’s positions at the top of the table had become so cemented that it felt like things had always been that way, and they always would be.
But in truth it was a relatively new, and ultimately short lived phenomenon.
There have only been six seasons where Arsenal and Manchester United occupied the top two spots in the league - 1947/48, 1997/98 1998/99, 1999/00, 2000/01, and 2002/03.
