Coming to Old Trafford, the plan for Mikel Arteta’s men was clear: to hope to beat Manchester City, they had to win everything anyway, and hope for a misstep from the Cityzens. It remained to be seen whether, this Sunday, they would face a proud Manchester United or its fragile version, which lost 4-0 at Crystal Palace the previous weekend. The Ten Hag team also had to maneuver without their playing master, Bruno Fernandes, who came to extend the list of injured players.
We felt it from the first minutes: Arsenal were keen to show their muscles and take advantage of the technical (and psychological) excitement of the Red Devils. Ten Hag’s men tried to get their foot on the ball, and why not propel it into Raja’s goal. At the end of the first quarter of an hour, the Mancuniens had already scored 4 times, without really worrying the thousands of Arsenal spectators present at Old Trafford. But their technical inaccuracies quickly caught up with them, and a very poor defensive alignment from Casemiro allowed Havertz to serve Trossard for the Gunners’ opening in the 20th minute. From then on, the Gunners only had to follow the coach’s instructions.
England’s best defense was even content to give up the ball to the harmless Mancunians, hoping to counterattack. The public didn’t have much to eat: a crushed strike from McTominay (32nd), two other shots from Garnacho (33rd, 47th) and a few incursions from Garnacho (41st, 42nd) and Diallo (36th). ). Insufficient to prevent Mikel Arteta’s players from returning to the locker room with a one-goal advantage at the break, after failing to double the lead on a dangerous shot from Ben White (28th).
Manchester United remains at the stage of intentions
Is the apparent tranquility of the Gunners just an illusion? Despite the technical inaccuracies, United seemed to gain momentum after the break despite an initial scare for Onana on a strike from Rice (55th) then a mix-up in the defense. The Mancunians appeared vaguely dangerous with strikes from Garnacho (60th), Casemiro (67th) and Antony (71st), who came in place of the injured Diallo a few minutes earlier.
Much more spicy when they entered the Mancunian area, the Arsenal players were on the verge of doubling the score thanks to a very sharp Martinelli (78th), who came into play in place of the scorer. In the 82nd minute, Onana saved his team again with a double save. But unable to take shelter thanks to their attack, under a heavy storm, Arsenal was then content to defend their goal in advance until the end of the match.
Without being brilliant and without forcing, Mikel Artera’s players leave Manchester with 3 new points. They will now wait to see if their archenemy, Tottenham, is able to take down Manchester City on Wednesday. And in the Premier League, miracles are not so rare.
