David de Gea believes Arsenal have an 'unfair advantage' over Manchester United ahead of their huge clash at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
United's winning run ended on Wednesday evening with a 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.
Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring in the first half before Michael Olise's spectacular free-kick in added time ensured the points were shared.
The games are coming thick and fast for Erik ten Hag's side, who are still in all competitions this season.
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United will be playing at least two games per week until March. This weekend will see them travel to Premier League leaders Arsenal, who are currently eight points clear at the top.
The Red Devils will do so without star midfielder Casemiro. He received his fifth yellow card of the campaign against Palace after hauling down Wilfried Zaha, meaning he'll serve a one-match suspension.
While the Brazil international's suspension is of his own doing, United goalkeeper De Gea couldn't hide his frustrations at full-time.
He believes it's unfair Arsenal have had a week to prepare for the last game. Mikel Arteta's men haven't been in action since defeating bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 on Sunday.
De Gea said: "One of our best players cannot play one of the best teams. I don’t understand why we had to play today and they didn’t, that could make the difference on Sunday. He is a big loss for us."
The 32-year-old made several saves to preserve United's lead before finally being beaten by Olise's free-kick.
He tipped Odsonne Edouard's long-range effort onto the bar in the first half and stopped Marc Guehi's header from a set piece in the second.
De Gea added that the United dressing room was disappointed by the way they lost control of the game as Palace pressed for an equaliser.
"Of course, especially because we conceded in the 90th minute," he admitted. "It's tough to take but I think they [Palace] deserved it to be honest.
"In the second half we didn't play well. In the first half, we did play well as we created a lot of chances. We scored a great goal.
"But from the beginning of the second half, we lost the control of the game.
"We gave the ball away a lot of times and we started giving away fouls close to the box, they had their chances and then they scored a great goal. They deserved it but we dropped two points today.'"
Topics: David De Gea, Manchester United, Casemiro, Premier League, Arsenal
Daniel Marland