Arsenal are unbeaten no longer. Manchester United have defeated Arsenal, the league leader, 3-1, ending the Gunners’ fans hopes of another invincible season.
This was such a great game as both teams had every chance to win. Arsenal, the current league leader, was coming into this game with all of the confidence in the world, while United was resurging after three straight wins.
Old Trafford was rocking as United came out flying, dominating the early possession stats and creating a few good half chances against Aaron Ramsdale’s net. Manchester United looked destined to score the opening goal and route the Gunners before the game even really started.
But it was Arsenal’s confidence and new-found team unity that gave them the lead on the 11′ as Martin Odegaard stole the ball from Christian Eriksen (who was OUTSTANDING today) in the middle of the field, sent a fantastic through ball to Gabriel Martinelli, who then shrugged off Diogo Dalot and dinked the ball over David de Gea to put the Gunners up 1-0.
Unfortunately for Arsenal and their fans, the dreaded VAR refs called in and had referee Paul Tierney go to the monitor, which revealed that Odegaard actually fouled Eriksen in the direct build up to the goal. Thus, Arsenal’s lead was wiped out and every United fan breathed a sigh of relief.
I’ve seen people online say that the Eriksen foul was soft and should not have been called, but I don’t agree. Odegaard didn’t get any of the ball and extended his arm into Eriksen’s back to shove him to the ground, which was the only way he was getting that ball. If Odegaard didn’t extended his arm, Eriksen would have retained possession and moved the ball on.
Anyway, even though Arsenal lost their lead, they took over control of the game. The possession stats went from 75% in favor of United in the opening 15 minutes to 50-50% by the 45th minute as Arsenal settled down and began working the ball down the sides of United’s team. Especially down the right through Bukayo Saka.
I see why Arsenal fans hold the 21-year-old English star in such high regard as he had Tyrell Malacia on toast for a good 20-25 minutes in that first half. Thankfully, Lisandro Martinez was able to cover for Malacia until he found a way to stifle Saka or else the Gunners would have scored a few goals.
Nevertheless, the only goal of the first half went to Man United as Christian Eriksen spilt the entire Arsenal midfield with a fantastic pass to Bruno, who then drove the ball into the Arsenal box and dinked a pass to Rashford, who then sent it across to the €100M man Antony, who curled a shot past an oncoming Ramsdale and into the net.
Antony couldn’t have asked for a better debut as he not only scored a goal, but also did it in front of the Stratford End.
Arsenal tried pressing for an equalizer right before the half, but they were unable to score as United went into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
However, if any United fan thought that goal was going to give their team some momentum coming out of halftime, they were sorely mistaken. Arsenal came out of the dressing room roaring for a goal and showed it as they dominated the play even more in the second half, with Odegaard and Saka missing two ‘A+’ chances on the 51′.
Yet, Saka refused to be denied. After a bad Raphael Varane turnover, Martin Odegaard picked up the loose ball and sent Jesus in on goal as Varane was out of position.
Dalot rushed across from his fullback position and de Gea sprinted forward to block Jesus’ attempt, but the rebound fell to Saka, and he buried it into an empty net. Arsenal definitely deserved a goal for their play, though this one was extremely fortunate.
Varane, Martinez, Dalot, and Malacia have been utterly flawless these past four games they’ve started together, but that was the first time they made a mistake. Unfortunately, they were punished for it.
Anyhow, Erik ten Hag quickly brought on Cristiano Ronaldo, who strangely didn’t start again, in order to change the game.
Which he did.
He may not have scored today, but he was instrumental in the buildup to Rashford’s two goals. The first, on the 65′ (only 5 minutes after Arsenal scored) came because Ronaldo rushed down Lokonga, forcing him to turn the ball over to Dalot. The Portuguese fullback quickly sent the ball over to Eriksen, who passed it up the field to Bruno, who in turn sent Marcus Rashford through on goal.
Rashford must have heard all of the criticisms of his one vs. one finishing skills as he drilled the ball into the bottom corner, easily beating Ramsdale to give United the 2-1 lead.
And, as I mentioned, Ronaldo, only five minutes after the second goal, slipped past and Arsenal defender and passed the ball to Bruno on the sidelines.
Bruno, who saw a breaking Eriksen, sliced the ball through the rest of the Gunners defense to give Eriksen and Rashford a 2 vs. 0 breakaway against Ramsdale. Eriksen waited until the last second to slide the ball across to Rashford, who fished spectacularly, giving United a 3-1 lead.
At that point, Arsenals knew they had little chance of coming back as they only produced half chances for the final twenty minutes before Paul Tierney blew the final whistling, thus sealing United’s 3-1 victory.
With a four straight win in a row, I feel obligated to issue an apology to these United players. Yes, they were absolutely dreadful against Brighton and Brentford, but I may have been too harsh on them to quickly as they have not only beaten Liverpool, but also the league leader Arsenal in the last month.
Perhaps, United’s Top-4 charge can finally begin as now they are only 1-point behind 4th place Brighton, and 3 points behind Arsenal.
As for Arsenal, this is a wakeup call. If they thought that they’d walk through United and the league this season, they couldn’t have been anymore wrong. I still see Arsenal challenging for the Top-4, and they could very well push for the title, but not with performances like that. They may have been the better ‘footballing team’ today, but they never looked as though they were going to win.
And with Everton, Brentford, Tottenham, Liverpool, Leeds, and Man City as their next run of fixtures for September and October (in that order), they’ll have an almighty fight on their hands to stay on top of the Premier League.
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