Hoping to extend their winning streak, Arsenal traveled to Manchester United’s Old Trafford for their Premier League match on Sunday afternoon (4 September).
The Gunners had a lot more fun with the ball (60%) and shot more shots (16v10), but United’s quick counterattacks ended up sealing their fate. The match ended 3-1 in favor of Manchester United, with a goal from Antony and a brace from Marcus Rashford. Bukayo Saka scored the only goal for the Gunners at the Theater of Dreams.
The North London team had their first chance for the match in the ninth minute when a free kick kindly fell to William Saliba. His shot, however, went wide and greatly exceeded the crossbar. A couple of minutes later Gabriel Martinelli finds the bottom of the net for Mikel Arteta’s men. But their joy was short-lived, as VAR ruled out the goal after Martin Odegaard was caught fouling Christian Eriksen in preparation for the goal.
On 35 minutes, Manchester United took advantage of Arsenal’s high line to take the lead and Antony put the finishing touches on a fantastic counter attack. The guests responded to the hour when Saka scored from close range to equalize the score at 1-1.
Despite the goals conceded, Erik ten Hag’s side refused to get on the defensive and returned to the lead just six minutes after Saka’s goal. Rashford hooked a Bruno Fernandes through ball to bring his team up 2-1. At 75 ‘Rashford doubles, this time thanks to a clever volley by Eriksen. The Gunners failed to respond to the double whammy and unfortunately succumbed to the 3-1 defeat in Manchester.
It wasn’t an abysmal exit from the leaders, but it did see many of their key players failing to keep billing. Here are three Arsenal players who underperformed and two who performed in Sunday’s Premier League defeat in Manchester:
Low performance: Gabriel Magalhaes
Arsenal center-back Gabriel Magalhaes faced a tough game on Sunday afternoon. He struggled to keep up with the fast forward Manchester United and was trapped in no man’s land by Antony’s goal in the first half.
Gabriel went out of his line to catch the ball from Fernandes, but the Portuguese pushed back before he could knock him down. His play forced Oleksandr Zinchenko to enter, leaving Antony wide open on the right. Virtually unchallenged, Antony walked in and put the finishing touches on Rashford’s volley.