Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believes Manchester United will be a very different opponent in Sunday’s FA Cup third round due to the extra training time with Ruben Amorim.

Arsenal handed Amorim his first defeat as United manager on December 4, when goals from Jurriën Timber and William Saliba earned him a 2-0 Premier League win.

After a manic schedule, Amorim finally had a week off to work with his team and an improved performance followed as United beat leaders Liverpool to a 2-2 draw at Anfield.

While Arsenal lost at home to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-final first leg, United had another clear week and Arteta believes there are clear signs of development in their style after they were able to work with Amorim.

“Yes (you see differences and) it is true that they also play a little bit differently in terms of the personnel they use, the location of certain players,” Arteta said at a press conference on Friday.

“The characteristics of the players at the end also determine what they do when they have more threats on both sides, two feet back, because that is what ultimately determines the behavior of a team. It’s been different the last few weeks until we played them here at home, so I’m expecting a few different things.

Arteta also reflected on comparisons between Amorim’s role at United and the one he took on at Arsenal five years ago, when he also started work during the busy winter period.

“Ruben has a lot more experience than I did back then so he is in a better situation and there is no COVID-19 so I think he has better options in this case,” Arteta said.

“It’s difficult because of course you need time to implement your ideas, especially the way of playing and explaining it. When you have so many games it’s difficult, so I understand that.”

“Every manager is appointed for a specific reason. The reasons can be different. Sometimes it’s just about improving a football team, getting more performance out of certain players.”

“Sometimes it’s about changing a football club. This is a completely different dimension of a job and if I have to refer to my previous job, it was more focused on that than the previous one I mentioned.”