Manchester United have set themselves a standard to try and maintain ahead of Sunday's FA Cup third round tie against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

Sunday's 2-2 draw with Liverpool at Anfield marked United's best performance of the Ruben Amorim era thus far and they will be determined to build on it when they kick-off their defence of their FA Cup crown.

United, despite the encouraging nature of their performance against Liverpool, will travel to the capital as underdogs. Furthermore, they have not won at the Emirates since January 2019.

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Ahead of the draw with Arne Slot's side last time out, Amorim, in a pre-match interview with MUTV released on Saturday, spoke of the improvements he had seen from his team having finally had the opportunity to spend a decent amount of time on the training pitch.

"Really good," said Amorim when asked how training had been ahead of the trip to Anfield. "It's so much different when you, for example, have two trainings [sessions] to have everybody, to explain the idea, to work on the little things, and you are happier.

"You feel that you are improving and that is the feeling that I have had this week. Let's see on the game."

The improvements Amorim had seen in training translated onto the pitch at Anfield. United, who had lost a fourth game on the bounce ahead of the trip to Merseyside, being beaten 2-0 by Newcastle United, produced the kind of characteristics that had been missing in previous games.

To a man, United were excellent. It was hard to find fault with anyone's individual performance, meaning Amorim, for the very first time since succeeding Erik ten Hag at the start of November, might feel confident enough to name an unchanged team in the capital.

Over the course of his first 12 games in charge, Amorim has made a total of 51 changes to his starting XI. The bulk of those changes were inspired by his rotation policy, but some have been as a direct result of injuries, illness or suspension.

Amorim's debut in the dugout - a 1-1 draw with Ipswich Town at Portman Road on November 24 - marked the first of 11 games before the end of 2024. A run of 11 matches in the space of just 36 days meant Amorim had very little time on the training ground to get his ideas across.

The longest gap United had between games during that run was just five days. That five-day period was between the 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest on December 7 and the 2-1 Europa League win over Viktoria Plzen on December 12.

By the time Amorim and his players arrive at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon, United will have gone exactly a week without a game, meaning this free midweek is likely to be relished by the former Sporting Lisbon boss. He has repeatedly banged the drum about needing time on the training ground to get his ideas across to his players and he has finally been afforded that luxury.

Six days separated United's defeat to Newcastle and Sunday's draw with Liverpool, and look at the difference that made to the Reds' performance at Anfield. The players were sharp, aggressive and seemingly comfortable in the shape Amorim has drilled into them since walking through the door.

Amorim made three changes against the Premier League leaders, recalling Kobbie Mainoo and inviting Manuel Ugarte and Bruno Fernandes back into the XI after they both missed the defeat to Newcastle through suspension. The trio all played key roles at Anfield, fully justifying their places in the XI.

The FA Cup third round is often a golden opportunity for Premier League managers to rotate their squads, rest key players and hand minutes to those on the fringes of the first XI. But with United going up against one of the strongest teams in the country, Amorim is unlikely to rotate too heavily.

In truth, he ought to resist any temptation to tinker at all. Unless any of those who started at Anfield are either injured or ill this weekend, Amorim should not feel the need to change a thing.

As fashionable as it might be to rotate heavily nowadays, why would you change a team that had performed so well in its previous outing?