This really is Arsenal’s year. Arsenal have won yet again as they overcame Manchester United in a 5-goal thriller, with the game-winning goal coming in stoppage time to keep them 5 points ahead of Manchester City.
What else can I say about the Gunners at this point?
In a game where they realistically should have drawn and lost momentum in the title race, they ended up winning with a last-minute goal to not only knock off an old rival, but also gain a huge boost of momentum for the second half stretch of the season. That is exactly what true title contenders do.
Having seen their chief (and really only) title challenger, Manchester City, go down to Wolves and utterly spank the club 3-0 from an Erling Haaland hat-trick to close the gap to 2 points, Arsenal’s fans were coming into the game with a tremendous amount of nervous energy. And the start to the game didn’t help calm them down.
Rashford’s fantastic bottom-corner strike in the 17th minute gave United an early, deserved lead, while Mikel Arteta’s gameplan to allow United to control the ball early on didn’t allow Arsenal a foothold until Eddie Nketiah’s equalizer a few minutes later.
In truth, everything about this game spelled out United taking something from the Emirates as even though Arsenal would take the lead through Bukayo Saka’ brilliant strike in the 53rd minute, Lisandro Martinez’s looping header in the ten minutes later to level the game should have swung all the momentum in Man United’s favor.
Sure, the stats may show Arsenal as the overwhelmingly dominate team with 25 shots vs. 6 shots, 520 passes vs. 396 passes, and 12 corners vs. 4 corners, but the shots on goal stat of 5 vs. 4 in favor of Arsenal tells the real story. United gave up possession in the second half and allowed Arsenal to pepper David de Gea’s goal with half chances but were lethal during counter attacks and scored with their chances.
Moreover, I have to point out how well the midfield trio of Bruno Fernandes, Christian Eriksen, and Scott McTominay played against a title challenging unit that Arsenal possesses. Even though Casemiro, who is easily United’s best midfielder, was out due to suspension, Fernandes, Eriksen, and McTominay didn’t miss a beat against Thomas Partey, Martin Odegaard, and Granit Xhaka.
They played through Arsenal’s lines in the first half when they had the ball, and they defended about as well as could be expected in such a heated environment when Arsenal was relentlessly pressing in the second half. Yes, they couldn’t keep out the Gunners in the end (which was mainly due to Wan-Bissaka forgetting how to mark his man), but they can at least take some pride away from their performances.
Nevertheless, with the game on the line and the realization that Manchester City would be breathing down their necks with a draw, Arsenal pulled out whatever was left in their gas tanks as Oleksandr Zinchenko chipped in a cross that beat Wan-Bissaka and Lisandro Martinez to find the dangling boot of Eddie Nketiah.
And, like a season striker, he deflected it past David de Gea to give Arsenal the 3-2 lead in the 90th minute, which ended up being the winning goal to keep them atop the Premier League by 5 points.
It’s clear that Manchester United is going places under Erik ten Hag, but this game proved they still have a way to go before they will be challenging the elite of the Premier League for the title.
As for Arsenal, this is their year. They might not have a better chance of winning a title for the next twenty years, so they have to take anything they can get now.
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