The Premier League's Christmas and New Year period, full of big games, is fast approaching – and with it, a more recent festive tradition – a host of games in a short period of time on Amazon's Prime Video service. One of those matches? A meet up between two teams who've had ups and downs, by their very high standards, this season.
To say Manchester United have experienced unpredictable form is an understatement. Their performance in all competitions – but notably defeats to Liverpool, Manchester City and Watford in the Premier League that have left them eighth in the table – has cost club icon Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his job, unable to bring his magic as a player to the managers' bench.
Meanwhile, Ralf Rangnick has been appointed as interim manager until the end of the season and will be watching in the stadium for tonight's (December 2) match. Praised by the likes of Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Chelsea's Thomas Tuchel, Ralf will also stay with the club as a consultant for a further two years.
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However, Michael Carrick, who will stay with United according to BBC Sport, will take charge once again tonight at Old Trafford as Ralf's work visa wasn't approved in time.
After a difficult start to the 2021/22 season with defeats to Brentford, Chelsea and Manchester City, Arsenal have now made their way to fifth place in the table. Their only Premier League loss since September has been to Liverpool, and last weekend they defeated bottom-of-the-table Newcastle United (the only Premier League side who still haven't won a game this season) with goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
Unfortunately, Bukayo had to come off the pitch not long after scoring due to injury, and will be on the bench tonight.
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Here's how you can tune in – and how you can potentially even legally watch for free...
Manchester United v Arsenal on TV – watch UK live stream
The Premier League fixture between Manchester United and Arsenal takes place at Old Trafford on Thursday, December 2 with an 8.15pm kick-off. Coverage is on Amazon Prime Video.
If you haven't yet taken a trial of Amazon Prime's services, you can watch this match and other Premier League fixtures via Prime Video for free with a 30-day free trial (the coverage *is* included in the trial period, obviously with hopes of getting you to make a longer-term commitment).
The trial period lasts for 30 days, during which time you'll need to cancel your subscription if you don't want to continue. After that period, you'll be charged.
Amazon's fixtures will air on December 2, and on December 28, 29 and 30. More details about the coverage are available in its live events Help Hub.
You can still choose between a couple of audio options – commentary or stadium sound without commentary – and you can watch coverage on over 650(!) compatible devices including Amazon's own Fire TV devices and Fire tablets, NOW devices, Roku devices, Google Chromecast, Apple TV and more – as well as an array of "smart TVs, Blu-ray players, tablets and mobile phones running iOS or Android", according to Amazon itself. Various "compatible games consoles" (the Xbox One, plus the PS3, PS4 and PS5) should also all run coverage.
Newcomers to the Amazon Premier League punditry team this December include Patrice Evra and Jürgen Klinsmann, who'll be joining the likes of Thierry Henry, Eni Aluko and Michael Owen to analyse all the action over the coming days and weeks.
And the Every Game, Every Goal feed also returned on December 1 when Amazon hosted 6 (Six, to honour the vidiprinter) games in one night. (We'll leave aside the fact that traditionally, the vidiprinter only wrote out scores of seven and upwards as words...)
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As well as the football, there's a host of further sport programming available, including selected NFL fixtures, selected ATP and WTA tennis matches, and rugby union (Amazon recently aired the Autumn Nations series).
Meanwhile, the All or Nothing documentary series shines the spotlight on famous sporting sides from around the world including Premier League teams like Spurs and Manchester City – and a series is in the works on Arsenal, too. You'll also find full-length documentary movies such as Andy Murray: Resurfacing, Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In and Lioness: The Nicola Adams Story on Prime Video.
Current subscribers will be able to watch at no extra charge beyond the usual Amazon Prime cost, which is £7.99 per month, or £79 per year.
Managing Editor, Digital Spy
Kate (they/she) joined Digital Spy in 2011 after studying journalism at Salford University, and has 15 years' experience as a writer and editor. They have previously worked at organisations including the BBC and Metro, and contributed to various music websites, blogs and zines while based in Manchester.
During her time at DS, Kate has previously been a freelance sub-editor and chief sub-editor. Kate's team were proudly nominated in the Best Subbing/Production Team category at the BSME Talent Awards 2022.
