• Manager believes match-up has lost much of its old sting
  • ‘It has calmed down. We are educating players in different way’

Mikel Arteta accepts that meetings between Arsenal and Manchester United lack the fire of days past, with VAR contributing to a broader cooling of tempers in high-profile fixtures.

Flashpoints were the norm when the two sides faced each other, as they will at the Emirates on Saturday evening, during the 1990s and 2000s. Both have fallen from grace since the days of dominating together at the top and the match-up has lost much of its old sting. Arteta sees it as part of a wider trend in which the intense scrutiny upon players encourages them to behave.

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