Arsenal’s defensive improvement this season has helped them go the distance in the title race, and it was the platform for their win over United too.
There were times during the game where all 10 of their outfield players were behind the ball around the edge of their own area. Everyone was in position, they were dogged and resolute and it was like they put up a shield and were saying to United ‘can you get past us?’
United couldn’t get through which meant that, even when they were seeing a lot of the ball, they ended up getting frustrated and shooting from distance when they probably should have tried to play an extra pass.
Arsenal have gone on the attack in most of their games this season but we have also seen them play this way before – it was the same when they drew with Manchester City at the end of March. Their whole team had the same mindset, or shared defensive brain, against United and at the heart of it were Gabriel and Saliba.
They have played together in 33 of Arsenal’s 37 league games this season and their partnership on Sunday was like the opposite extreme of Jonny Evans and Casemiro, who are United’s latest pairing at the back. Casemiro is not a specialist centre-half and it really showed.
2024-05-13 07:28:40
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