Result: Arsenal 2 – 0 Manchester United
Competition: Premier League
Date: 11th Mar 2019
Venue: Emirates Stadium
Arsenal: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal, Kolasinac, Xhaka, Ramsey, Ozil, Lacazette, Aubameyang
Subs: Cech, Mustafi, Elneny, Guendouzi, Suarez, Iwobi, Nketiah
Arsenal moved back up to fourth place and within a point of S**rs with a win over Manchester United at the Emirates. Emery’s highly offensive starting line-up paid off as Xhaka got an early goal with a swerving long range shot that deceived De Gea to curl into goal.
Aubameyang doubled the lead with a penalty in the second half to settle nerves in the stadium and secure a much needed win for Emery against a top 6 team.
First Half
In what seemed to be an unprecedented move, Unai Emery went all out attack against Manchester United at home by starting Lacazette, Aubameyang, Ozil and Ramsey. And attack they did, with Lacazette almost scoring under 2 minutes. Aubameyang laid off the ball to Kolasinac on the left for the latter to cross in for Lacazette. The Frenchman was only inches away from connecting with the ball to put the Gunners into the lead.
Arsenal continued to dominate the play and found pockets of space but it was United who got the best chance of the first half. Shaw crossed for Lukaku who attempted to do an Ozil. He stabbed the ball into the ground and its rebound could only hit the crossbar instead of being on target. #theresonlyoneozil
The Gunners finally made their early domination count with a goal on the 11th minute by Granit Xhaka. He took a chance with a long shot from outside the penalty box. The ball took a wicked swerve way from De Gea, who committed to diving in the opposite direction and misread the path of the ball. 1-0 to Arsenal.
The action continued to flow both ways as Arsenal and United carved chances at both ends. Fred’s shot from long range hit the post when chasing an equalizer while Ramsey skied the ball from a Maitland-Niles cutback. It was like deja vu in the 29th min as Kolasinac teased another low cross, this time for Aubameyang who couldn’t make contact with the ball in similar fashion to Lacazette in the first minute.
United hit back with Lukaku bullying Monreal down the channel to go one on one with Leno. The German did very well to dive wide and stretch out a hand to prevent a United leveller.
Arsenal took the lead the dressing room but it wasn’t without one last scare as Xhaka looked to have hurt himself when making a last ditch tackle to prevent a Rashford strike in the box.
It was an odd first half where Arsenal looked dominant but could have also conceded a couple of goals with United hitting the post twice. Refereeing decisions also did not go the way of the home side with multiple marginal offside calls and advantages not being given – much to the annoyance of the home team.
Second Half
The second half started at breakneck pace by both teams and again it was United who had a big chance on the 47th minute. A cross field pass to the right side of Arsenal’s defence found a United player in acres of space. Arsenal was lucky to have Leno sprint out of the penalty box to clear the ball before any damage was done.
Leno was the saviour again a couple of minutes later when Rashford made a defence splitting pass to find Lukaku in the centre of the box. The ‘keeper somehow managed to block the shot from close range to keep the lead intact for Arsenal.
After 20 minutes of the second half, it was obvious that Arsenal was calling out for an extra midfielder as they struggled to keep possession and looked too open when defending. But they got their break in the 67th minute when Fred made a clumsy nudge on Lacazette in the box. A nervous Aubameyang stepped up and exorcised the demons of the Tottenham game by slotting in the penalty calmly through the middle. 2-0 to the Arsenal.
Lacazette could have wrapped up the game just minutes later with a third. Lindelof misjudged the bounce of a ball over his head and Lacazette powered past him and bore down on goal. The Frenchman went for power but his strike was just wide of the far post.
Ozil went off in the 76th minute to a standing ovation as Iwobi took his place in the no.10 role. Aubameyang came off a couple minutes after for a rare appearance by Suarez to beef up the center of the park.
At this point, the momentum had swung in Arsenal’s favour with Iwobi showing off some nifty footwork with the ball and the team counter attacking dangerously. Emery was confident enough of the win to bring on Nketiah for Lacazette with five minutes to go.
All in all, it was a much needed win for Emery who showcased his ability to set up an excellent game plan against a top team. Hopefully, this performance will give the team the confidence to end the season strongly.
Its between AMN and Leno for my MOTM. Both were incredible today!
Also, an easy ride from here! No top 6 matches for the remainder of the season. Top 4 should be ours if we perform as we should!
Well, slow down a little! Wolves, Watford, and Foxes away from home are emphatically *not* an easy ride, lol.
Exactly. These are still big games, especially Wolves, they’re brilliant.
Maybe I should have been more descriptive and said easiest amongst the rest of our rivals. Never an easy ride in the Prem!
Spurs still have Liverpool and Citeh
I hope we turn our away form. We’ve been middling, our away form against the non-Big six, P9 W5 D2 L2. Of the last 5 results L2 D1. Count in BATE and Rennes, and we’re really struggling away from home. Not saying we shouldn’t perform better, but that there’s still a long, hard and winding way to go.
They were both monsters. But all the Gunners left it on the pitch today. Great collective effort.
Agreed, and I think Ramsey deserves mention for his performance as well — he was excellent. Emery put out our best players available, and was rewarded for his belief. Well done all around.
Ramsey was immense today. That’s what we’ll miss and Juve will gain. Sad, but best wishes to the lad.
I fully agree. The match was won in midfield, where Ramsey totally owned them.
Got a bit lucky but what a superb performance from the team. Unai Emery the man!
I was gonna come on to praise the same two players! Leno turning into a real asset and AMN – just wow.
They were great today. I would also add lacazette to that list. He’s such a fighter for us, got two assists as well if you count getting a penalty as an assist
Honourable mentions for Kola and Laca as well, they were class too
Has to be Leno for me. I lost count of the number of times he saved our asses today. There’s always talk at the start of a season of how many points a good keeper can save a team and I think Leno can safely stick a 3 in that column today.
Four, if you count the double save against Spurs.
AMN did have a great game but he got sloppy at the end and have up that free header. That gives Leno the nod for me. He was fantastic. But all in all no one disappointed. One of the most thorough, all round team games of the season.
One of the goalkeepers looked like the (one of the) best GKs in the world.
It was Laca for me. But every single player deserves at least a 9 today. Fantastic all around performance.
Leno dealt with everything. Ainsley definitely motm for me. Brilliant team performance. I’m so happy right now.
I know that this comment will not land well right now – and I’m really not trying to be negative, especially after such a performance – just want to point out that AMN, out of nowhere, completely switched off in the ET and allowed Rashford a free header on goal.
Our players – especially the youngsters, which is partially understandable – somehow are still very prone to dips in concentration. See Guendouzi for the third at Rennes.
I also think AMT had a very rough first half. Also, some of the highlight-worthy recoveries he made were from his own mistakes (got turned, wrong timing, etc). I’m not saying he had a bad game either, but how people can look past the mistakes (that Rashford chance was just one of them) and crown him MOTM is hard to understand. Still, kudos to him, he held his own and deserves an applause for that.
Agree.
They had clearly targeted Ainsley in the first half and it showed.
The improvements in his performance shut them down and they seemed lost. I would suspeect Emery has some words to boost his confidence and focus and for the change the player and manager deserve huge praise.
Emphatically agree. He held his own, especially against Martial when he came on. But also going forward, especially in the first half, he would be in space on the right, receive the ball but you just never had any confident he would do anything decisive with it.
Laca for me.
Our defence MOTM for me.
St. Totteringham’s day is soon coming My fellow gooners. You could just sense it ! It’s gonna happen again !
It’s between Leno, AMN, Sokratis, Kos, Laca, Ramsey, Xhaka or everyone for me..
All the team played well today, it was a real team effort. However, if I have to give a MOTM award today it would go to Granite Xhaka. He scored the opening goal, his brave tackle stopped a certain goal for them and he was a giant in midfield where we won the match. Leno is turning into what everyone hoped he would and will be Neuer replacement very soon with performances like the last two matches. Unfortunately Emery won’t play him on Thursday and that might be costly. Massive win today and big balls from Auba to step up… Read more »
Xhaka for me is the motm. Crucial first goal with a sweet PIRLOish curl. He was immense in midfield, don’t think their is a better CM who is as good playing between the lines, so so crucial in moving the attack forward. I hope his defensive mistakes are a thing of the past as his defensive game was on point today.
My MTM was FRED.
He pinpoint the post in the first half with his brilliant long range effort.
Instead of shooting directly to our goal, he took a beautiful touch first before shoot…..only to be blocked brilliantly by Kos.
And the most brilliant of all, he gently pushed Laca inside their penaly box. And when the ref point to the penalty spot, Fred didn’t complain or object.
POOPED ON THE MANC’S
POOPED ON THE MANC’S
EVERYONE KNOWS THAT WE POOPED ON THE MANCS!
(ashley young eats birdshit for breakfast)
Xhaka scoring just as the Mancs were taunting us with the RVP chant was really satisfying. Their fans are negative, arrogant taunters. Horrible. So satisfying to shut them up ?
Absolutely huge win today! Where everything went against us in Europe, everything went for us this weekend. Sp*ds losing, Chelsea scraping a draw and we stick United for two goals with no reply.
Perform like this and 2-nil v Rennes is more than a realistic result to achieve
Now that’s a fucking performance to be proud of.
See what happens when you play your best players and no Mustafi
Agreed, but rotation is a necessary evil in the wake of potential late season fatigue. Emery has managed well in his first season with the majority of Wenger’s players to be honest.
Exactly. Actually I reckon Spurs are paying the price for their inability to rotate right now
Don’t spoil it
I was so glad to finally see our best attacking players, Laca, Auba, Ozil and Rambo on the pitch together. It’s not happened too often this season. A real shame we’re not gonna see much of it, with Rambo leaving at the end of the season.
Couldn’t agree more, keep Mustafi well away from the first team
Real Arsenal!
Kiss your unbeaten record goodbye fuckers
They spent all their luck in Paris.
They were playing with 14 men and still couldn’t get a kick. We OWN Manushited
A lot of players helped us with big performances. Leno helped with aggressive big performance. Ramsey helped us with very big protagonist performance. Also luck with big positive energy.
You missed “Good ebening” out.
Why are you sounding like Emery?! You must have been watching his press conferences a lot. Hahaha
Double upvote if I could
Big mentality for going forward in a big performance with high energy.
nice one
Maitland-Niles take a bow! Absolutely solid and assured throughout.
Just wonder how much more developmentally productive it is to have Sokratis in his left ear than Mustafi. AMN was immense.
Love you Arsenal!!! What a win!!! First defeat for Ole and I am loving ittttttt
Got so many usually loud Man Utd fans around me… no noise at all, not even a squeak. COYG, today was a perfect win, very well structured. Couldn’t have asked for a better Sunday
Hope you were really loud today instead.
Gunners on the storm (to the tune of that track by the Doors)
Many times in not-so-distant history, we were handed a situation on a silver plate and weren’t up to the occasion.
This time, with Spurs losing and Chelsea drawing, we did. Massive result, massive performance.
COYG!
Fantastic. Top 3-4 here we come! Maybe.
SP*RS, WEEEE AARRREEEEE COOMMINGGGG FOOORR YOOOUUUUU!!
WITH OUR CANNONS AND GUNPOWDER!
WE ARE COMING!
LOCK YOUR DOORS
Hide the chickens! St Totteringham’s day is coming
Hide yo wife, hide yo kids…
Nonsense. We go for the chickens balancing on beachballs.
Emery masterclass that! Loved the intensity of our pressing. AMN showed Mistafi how to not drop a result. And Suarez looked a tidy player in his brief cameo. 10/10 result
Emery got it spot on in the last 2 big league games
Tbh whatever you think of him he has improved our competitiveness against the top 6 absolutely. Factor in that city and Chelsea were his first 2 league games and it’s really impressive. I thought it was notable that today he played Ramsey and Ozil at the same time, Ramsey being disciplined throughout and Ozil putting in a real shift off the ball. It’s encouraging to me that his message seems to be getting through and that we didn’t let our heads drop after the game vs Rennes.
We’ve looked really solid the past 2 games. If we can play like we did against Sp*rs & ManU then have to think 3rd place a realistic possibility. For all the knocks that Xhaka takes from fans, he is so important to how we play – he gives us control in midfield. Defense is starting to look more solid & great to see Abau hit that penalty after the miss last week. We need to run the table the rest of the way but it’s very doable. Emery clearly is making progress with this team – I’m excited to see… Read more »
We should already be in third
Surely we were robbed last week??
What I really want to see is Lacazette, Aubameyang, Pogba, Rashford and Martial forming a hard funk band that recalls the best of early era Kool And The Gang, mid era Prince, and late era Cameo. Why else would Rashford be rocking a solid hi – top and tram line hybrid cut, worthy of comparison to the bass player from Sexual Chocolate? I appreciate that this is a lot to ask for. I mean, you wouldn’t ask Larry Blackmon to drop in off the front line to show for a short pass to feet, then spin in behind, any more… Read more »
Eh? That’s what you gotta say? Stop smoking the stems man
I knew everyone else would have the match covered, so I took it elsewhere.
Besides, you don’t smoke the stems. Whoever told you that is having you on.
A poor imitation of Rambling Pete I guess.
?
Did you post this exact same comment on the guardian too?
you betcha!
Where do you get your weed mate? That’s some strong joint
I’m with you, guy. You’re an unappreciated genius..
MEGA Aren’t you the guy from YouTube talking shit about Arsenal all the time? If yes, then fuck off you dirty Manc
Absolutely not lol. I’m a Gooner from Harrow. Whoever that guy is sounds like he can fuck off but it isn’t me, friend….
Fair nuff lol. All gooners are welcome
Beautiful mind !?
Is this Rambling Pete’s knockoff?
Is that you on splif Pete?
Longest thread ever?
You ain’t smoking the right shit there
I was quaking in my seat when I saw that line up but I’m glad it all worked out! What a performance by Leno. Kola looked dangerous down the left and Laca was excellent too.
Was a bit worried when we were overrun by United in the second half and I wished we brought on a CM for Auba or Ozil. Penalty decision looked a bit soft but considering how we weren’t getting the decisions all day, we deserved it. COYG!
I was a little shocked when we brought on Eddie for Auba, instead of ElNeny.
But…in the end, I felt proud of Emery showing bravery and confidence in Eddie to see out the game.
Class act that
*Eddie for Laca
It was like “we’ve got these chumps beat let’s give the lads a run out”…brilliant imo!
I was more shocked when we brought on Iwobi – 2-0 up against the scum, and we bring on the one bloke in the squad who does ZERO defending!
Manuel Neuer is a B-Tec Bernd Leno. What a guy! Special mention to Ainsley and Xhaka
Leno has been absolutely dynamite at home this year!
Leno was immense today! So was AMN, Laca despite not scoring worked his ass off as well!
Solid perfomance all around, and 4th (or even third, bring back St Totteringham day!) isn’t out of reach and really depends on us now given that we don’t play any other top six team
Brilliant.
Just throwing it out there, but maybe the next statue outside the Emirates should just be Aubameyang’s Big Balls. Just the nuts and nothing else
And we’ll have the same mohawk afro running down the sack. Just so everyone knows who them balls belong to.
Luke Shaw V Sead Kolasinac in a hot dog eating untill tou puke competition is something people would pay to see?
I don’t think this experiment worked. We rode our luck at times. But well done to the team and Leno. Easily the motm.
We were tactically better than United, Solskjaer’s expressions said it all. I don’t know which match you watched but the ‘experiment’ kept us a clean sheet too
It worked but we have played better. You can’t deny that they could have scored a couple of goals in that game and should have been ahead at half time. Leno won the game for us. We need to improve going forward.
Best the most in-form team in the league (maybe all of Europe) by 2 clear goals and kept a clean sheet. Yeah, got it all wrong.
Jean Ralphio closet Man Ushited fan and glory hunter. Go support Tottenham you’ll enjoy them!
Ok, Chickenshite. Btw are you that fan who ran onto the pitch? Add something more constructive instead of resorting to petty and immature comments.
Supporters can be proud and critical at the same time. Had Lukaku taken his chances, this would have been a very different game and that score would have been different. We rode our luck at times. I’m pretty sure they had the bigger chances in this game right up until the end when Rashford had a free header. We’ll see how the By the numbers looks.
JR, your observations are not unreasonable. Laca penalty was mighty soft, three or four MU misses from point blank, etc. But, just enjoy the win for now. Plenty of opportunity for cold logic tomorrow.
You don’t have a clue
Emery had a massive pair of cojones playing that team: then not backing down at the end and keeping three up there. Yes we had some luck but we were the better side.
And fuck Man United and their glory-hunting cunt fans!
Did you notice the score?
55-1 to the Fat gooner ???
Did you really watch the match. The most abysmal comment I have read after such a great performance
Huh. What?
We were brilliant today. The back 5 magnificent, Ramsey steady, Xhaka run the game, Lacazette was so strong…. he is a beast and thank you Aubameyang for the goal if nothing else. Unai got it right in hindsight and his subs were spot on.
Referees were United,s 12th man but still we made it through.
COYG!!!
oh yes how can i forget Leno…. BRILLIANT!
A Man U ref won’t give that penalty though.
Great great result. Wonderful performance
It’s just a bit confusing to me that united escaped with only 1 yellow card and we got 2
Jon Moss is a cunt.
It doesnt even feel like a joke anymore
I don’t disagree and he was oddly deferential to Pogba, but he gave us a semi-soft pen so he gets a pass for the day in my book.
Wasn’t he the guy that gave Victor Moses a 2nd yellow in the FA Cup Final for diving a couple years back? That was heroic in my book.
Probably. But I can’t really remember. The thing is, i Would take the penalty anytime no matter how soft it was. But that doesnt mean the ref had a good game. Pogba deserved two yellows. The one that he got and the one when he so deliberately pulled Ramsey.
The premier league refs standard has gone quite worse in general lately
Love. It. Still the biggest game of the season for me
Well done Emery. Well done the players.
If we can turn around the Rennes tie on Thursday it could be a seriously exciting end of the season.
Footballs a funny old game. Also we have to give Emery credit for making us more than a formality in these games.. Other than Lpool away we have been pretty good.
GET IN BOYS!
Cracking result.
Leno ❤️
Sokratis and kolscielny – looking like a great partnership
Aaron Ramsey ❤️
Ozil sprinting into tackles ❤️
Lacazette ❤️
This has made my weekend
And spuds lost ???
10 point gap 16 days ago ???
What a win! Hope Kolasinac is fine..
Lacazette!
What a player!
Massive win, massive weekend at a very important moment of the season.
See you in April.
*see you Thursday, then in April. Oops
Happy St. Totteringham weekend everyone! ?
COYG!!!!!!!!!!!! ❤
Too soon.
But they have lost form and still have City and Liverpool to drop points to. I can see them landing in fifth quite easily.
Rode our luck a bit in the first half but looked way more solid in the second, Pogba and Rashford especially barely got a sniff. Overall a well deserved win. Special mentions for AMN, Laca, Kola and Leno who were all absolute beasts today.
Hell Yeah, that’s the good stuff!
Özil was big today. I didnt think saving the relationship between him and Emery was possible. I may have been wrong. Him linking up between the def and the two strikers will stretch any team. There were times we had huge open spaces. A little better play in the final third and we could have scored way more than two
Finally starting to feel like we have a keeper who can do something unexpected in a positive way!
Many really good performances today but feel Ramsey hasn’t been mentioned enough. His workrate was immense. I miss his desire already.
We won !!
Ainsley Maitland-Niles! Bernd Leno! Thank you Gunners! ❤ Now let’s overturn the Europa League deficit to those diving wankers! COYG! ?
Its only one point now, folks.
There’s a quote doing the rounds which might come back to haunt someone “Welcome to reality.”
It worked out in the end, but was I the only one that was amazed Aubameyang was taking the penalty instead of Lacazette?
No, I was shocked. And the thing is…that shot was terrible! Even more savable than the one against Spurs! He’s legitimately awful at them. Glad luck went his way today, but the way he takes them they will be saved 50% of the time.
Exactly my thoughts about it. I would’ve been fuming if he’d missed.
I was surprised, too, and I don’t really trust Auba on penalties, but it seemed to me that today’s was actually a good one because he read De Gea’s first move and so he did all he needed to do, easily slotting it in behind him.
Scored 6 pen he has missed two . Not a 50-50 statistic.
Enjoy his class mate
Pretty shocked. And I also thought he would have gone for power since his last effort was pretty tame. That said, it took balls for him to step up and while it may not have been pretty it doesn’t have to be once you get the keeper moving.
I’ve no doubt in my mind as to who is our no1 penalty taker
Laca….knows how to hit it and with real zip on it
I love this team
Sokratis, AMN, Laca, Xhaka, Sead for man of the match for me. Absolutely amazing. They left everything on the pitch. Big ups to everyone tho. Even Ozil and Auba get a special mention.
Leno for me. AMN a close 2nd
1 thing I’ve learnt so far about Emery is for me never to predict our starting eleven hours before the game. This removes every form of prediction from the opponent also which is very much unlike what we use to experience in the past
I think this is a valid point. And definitely such a big contrast from the stubborn and tactically inflexible approach we saw so much of in recent years.
Get in, massive win. We’re so good at home.
Anybody notice Lacazette shout for Aubameyang to take the penalty after he won it? Those two are class together.
Something else I swear I saw was Kolasinac throw up in the second half, would love it if someone else could back me up on that, I burst out laughing when I saw it.
I saw it. Yes he did man.
I saw that! Possibly winded?
Yeah, Laca screamed at Auba to take the penalty, and sead did puke at the end of the game after being tackled
He definitely did. Show’s how much of a shift he put in, which hasn’t always been the case.
Saw it too, no idea why he was throwing up but I was like..did he really? Glad I wasn’t the one seeing that, thought I was seeing things.
Also yes, Laca is class!
https://www.caughtoffside.com/2019/03/10/arsenals-kolasinac-throwing-up-video-vs-man-united/
Jesus, that was nasty!
I mean, I figured it would be, and I went ahead and looked anyway, but still!
Could it be Gatorade/lucozade? If he drank too much at a stop in play before a gut busting run, it might look like that.