Mikel Arteta gives verdict on Manchester United appointing Ralf Rangnick

Although Michael Carrick will be in the dugout against Arsenal on Thursday night, it won’t be long before Ralf Rangnick can fully take over as interim manager.

Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta admits that he’s interested to see how Rangnick gets on at Manchester United – so long as it doesn’t push them further down the table.

It will be our aim for the next few weeks to climb above Arsenal and the other teams standing in our way to get into the top four.

“He’s been one of the top coaches,” Arteta said about Rangnick, as quoted by Manchester Evening News.

“He’s made some radical changes in some areas and is a really interesting person in the football world and a really interesting appointment for the football club.”

At the beginning of the season, it looked like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would last longer in his position than Arteta, who has turned things around since Arsenal’s disastrous start to the campaign.

Solskjaer received his marching orders over a week ago, only to be replaced by Michael Carrick as caretaker boss and now Rangnick until the end of the season.

The German won’t take charge against the Gunners at Old Trafford on Thursday night because he has yet to be granted a work permit, but he is expected to watch the game from the directors’ box.

Arsenal are currently five points clear of United in the Premier League table, so we’ve got our work cut out to address those standings during the festive period.

Match prediction

I suspect Michael Carrick will get his first league win as manager – to continue his unbeaten run in charge.

Arsenal may have improved since the beginning of the season, but I think we’ll have too much for them tomorrow night, especially in attack.

I’m going to go with a 2-0 win for United.

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