Man Utd to arrive at Arsenal buoyed by in-form £34m bagsman the Gunners failed to sign

Manchester United make the trip to face Arsenal on Wednesday evening at the Emirates Stadium and will arrive in London buoyed by a convincing 4-0 victory over Everton in Ruben Amorim's third match in charge.

The Red Devils were powered by braces from Joshua Zirkzee and Marcus Rashford in that fixture against the Toffees, the former getting his first goals since the opening day of the season. Zirkzee arrived at Manchester United from Bologna for £36.5 million in July but fell out of favour under Erik ten Hag after a few early top flight starts.

Handed a place in the starting XI for the first time since September, Zirkzee rewarded his manager's faith with an impressive showing against Everton. The 23-year-old will no doubt be looking to build on that performance against a hit-and-miss Gunners side on Wednesday, but the London club almost made the Netherlands international their own this summer.

In June, Sky Sports reported that Arsenal were the other Premier League side 'monitoring' a move for the former Bologna man, who had a £34 million release clause in his contract. The report claimed: "Arsenal want to bring in a young striker they can develop, having turned their attention away from players such as Newcastle's Alexander Isak and Brentford's Ivan Toney."

Arsenal had been heavily linked with a big investment up top during the window, but that did not come to fruition. Instead, the club splurged money on full-back Riccardo Calafiori, midfielder Mikel Merino and goalkeeper David Raya.

Mikel Arteta and Arsenal, who host the Red Devils motivated themselves after a 5-2 win over West Ham at the weekend, will hope their former transfer target doesn't inflict pain at the Emirates Stadium. Speaking about Zirkzee at the weekend, Amorim said ahead of the game: "He is a talented player. He is a Manchester United player and I think he's ready [to play] that position. I think we need the characteristics of Josh in this game; they [Everton] have two centre-backs who are strong in the air and I want [someone] more technical who can reach the ball in different areas.”

After full-time, he added: "He [Zirkzee] played in a position that suits him. He was like a false 9. That helps him. We try to put the players in the position that allows them to shine."