Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Trossard, Saka, Havertz
Subs: Ramsdale, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Smith Rowe, Vieira, Jesus, Martinelli, Nketiah
Arsenal leapfrogged Manchester City to sit top of the Premier League table after beating Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford, thanks to a first half goal from Leandro Trossard.
Mikel Arteta named an unchanged side for the fourth consecutive game, with Takehiro Tomiyasu and Bukayo Saka both passing late fitness tests to start.
It was a dominant start from Arsenal who had United pinned in their own half, with Bukayo Saka testing Andre Onana early on after lovely work in tight spaces from Martin Odegaard.
But United did eventually get out and had a great chance to take the lead when Thomas Partey was caught on the ball in a dangerous position by Scott McTominay, before playing Rasmus Hojlund through on goal – who lost his footing and blasted over.
That opportunity seemed to kick the hosts into gear and there were two further shots in quick succession, first from Alejandro Garnacho and then from Diogo Dalot with Arsenal looking far from comfortable defensively.
However, Arteta’s men did settle and found themselves ahead after 20 minutes when Ben White played Kai Havertz in behind – who was left completely unmarked on the right wing – before finding Leandro Trossard in the middle whose sharp movement and finish typified a man in form. 1-0.
Everybody expected the offside flag to go up, although replays showed Casemiro was slow to push out and rejoin the defensive line, playing the German well onside.
The Gunners almost doubled their lead minutes later when Saka found White steaming forward on the overlap, but his drilled effort grazed the top of the crossbar with Onana beaten.
But instead of pushing to kill the game, Arsenal were uncharacteristically sloppy throughout the first half and fell below their usual standards – both in and out of possession – and struggled to sustain pressure despite the weakened opposition line up.
United weren’t exactly peppering David Raya or placing huge amounts of pressure on the back four, but having gone into half time ahead, Arteta would have wanted more from his team who were undoubtedly passive.
The second half followed a similar pattern with United controlling the ball without looking overly threatening but Arsenal couldn’t settle in possession, and kept giving the ball back to the hosts when it couldn’t stick with Havertz.
In the 55th minute, the Gunners finally sprung into gear and Declan Rice found himself unmarked on the edge of the area after typically neat triangles down the right hand side but his goalbound effort was blocked by Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
With 25 minutes to play, Arteta opted to bring Gabriel Martinelli on for goalscorer Trossard in hope of springing more threat in behind, but that did little to change the momentum of the game with Arsenal still sloppy in all phases.
Garnacho looked the hosts’ most dangerous player and continued to run at White, and had parts of the stadium celebrating prematurely after rifling a left footed strike into the side netting. Warning signs for the Gunners who were sleepwalking to victory at that point.
Arsenal did respond with chances of their own and tested Onana twice in quick succession, first a strong left hand was needed to stop Martinelli and then a more comfortable save to meet Rice’s curling effort from 20 yards.
As thunderstorms descended onto the Old Trafford pitch, Arteta brought on Jakub Kiwior and Jorginho to secure the result and secure they result they did – United were unable to create anything of note despite having more of the ball.
Despite the mixed performance, at this moment, two teams will be battling for title on the final day and all eyes will be on Manchester City (and Spurs!) this Tuesday.
That result means Arsenal have won a Premier League game at Old Trafford for just the second time in their last 17 away games, and it’s the first time they have done the league double against Manchester United since 2007.
It’s a huge achievement for Arteta and this young side to take the title to the final day after a taxing season. That’s all we could have asked.
Rough, tough, but enough
Mad. We have rocked up at old Trafford many times (especially under Wenger), played the best football and come away with a thumping. Today was akin to years past, but in the opposite direction. No complaints from me.
Finally, we won again there. My heart is still pounding. Next, supporting Sp*rs to the max, as neighbors should 😀
😀
Yes, being neighbourly.
Meh, their football wasn’t anything special. They forced us to play the game their way but that was ok with us because we were 1-0 up. There was little cutting edge or subtlety about them, and barely enough fight. I criticized Arsenal’s approach but I thought United were really bad in their own way. And that’s before we discuss the goal they let us score.
A win is a win is win!!!!!!
We did it and that’s all that matters. Table toppers and soon to be league winners. We did it COYG
Of course they would water their pitch, the cowards. Just glad we got out of that with a win and no major injuries. What a season it’s been.
What a season, indeed. But we need to start stacking up the trophies soon if we are going to keep the likes of Saliba! I wouldn’t want that lad playing for anyone else in his prime but The Arsenal!
Regardless of what happens this season, a trophy or two next season should be a MUST.
Saka didn’t get away with it. They should fix the edge of that sloping pitch, or cover the bricks.
Pretty funny because the first person to slip was Hojlund when he could’ve had a dangerous shot but hit the ball into his -would be- standing foot. Gamesmanship cuts both ways.
On a separate but related note, I have to say I really dislike Ten Hag. Just seems like a sneaky, selfish character. His teams reflect his personality: Spineless, spiritless despite every opportunity to do better.
And his black shoes didn’t match his weird safari suit. Mik doesn’t take fashion risks like this
Yeah, we won, but that was shit. I was looking forward to a reparation of that aberration from years back.
As they say, pinch a result without playing well, what champions do, and so on and so forth…
Hated every minute, but get in!
That was worse than having one’s wisdom tooth pulled out without anaesthesia. Now looking forward to Sp*rs getting spanked and city going above us even on GD.
Here’s what’s going to happen…
City will score first, think it’s over, game will drag on and then all of a sudden towards the end, the game will descend into that chaos state they hate. Sp*ds will somehow net 2 in the dying embers of the game.
Arithmetically if we beat Everton 1:0 and City draw with Spurs then City need to beat Hammers 5:0 on the last day.
I think City would need to win 4-0 in that scenario because there is currently only 3 goal difference advantage to Arsenal but City are ahead in goals scored. Best bet is thump Everton 5-0 so City have to score 8.
If the GD ends up being the same on the last day, the next rule is head-to-head result not goal scored.
By head to head, Arsenal did better than city as Arsenal tool away 4 points from City.
Quick google search put head to head as third ranked criteria behind goals scored and goal difference.
Oh I see. I have always thought the head to head result ranks higher than goal scored.
In that case, we need City to lose to Spurs as the most beneficial results for us.
If my maths is right the head to head would come into play if City for example draw 0-0 with Spurs and then beat West Ham 4-0 whilst Arsenal win 6-5 against Everton.
No they are 3 behind us on gd but have scored more goals than us now. So if they draw with spurs they need to better our score by at least 3 on the final day. 4-0 would enough in your example.
Playing away at Old Trafford, a major hoodoo ground of ours down the years, in a crucial game which has major implications in one of the tightest title races we’ve ever been in – and winning – was worse than having a tooth pulled?
bruxa canhota!
Very nervy, but job done.
Great to still be in the race but that felt like a game the players had settled in the tunnel before the game. Theres no way Arsenal and United are this rubbish.
Arsenal weren’t rubbish, they just looked tired. Still enough to fend off United who, on the other hand, were rubbish.
Couldn’t love this team more. Whatever happens next Sunday, what a freaking ride this season has been!
Never felt safe, but also not a real threat.
Phew!!!
Ohhhh boy we got away with one there, well off the pace but still in the race. Right I’m off to listen to whale sound and try get this pulse rate back to normal COYG!!!
I don’t think we got away with one. Defensively we were solid and Raya didn’t have much to do
Yes. The nerves of being an arsenal fan (and having seen us fuck things up from seemingly nowhere before) made that tense as hell. I did not enjoy it one bit.
But it looked like we knew United were dog shit. And so it proved.
Did you see their starting 11
I did but football doesn’t always work like that. Great 3 points
Oh don’t get me wrong we are both on the same page there with the 3 points at old Trafford 😂 i just feel we were very fortunate to come up against a team that toothless.
We weren’t bad defensively but l think the overriding factor was that they were blunt in the attack. A lot of our key creative players didn’t turn up today and that’s happened a few times in some of the big games this season( games against Porto, Bayern, Spurs away to an extent). That’s why our superpower lies in how good we are off the ball as if we’re not quite at the races creatively we can keep opponents at bay and rely on a clutch player like Trossard for a brilliant moment.
Respect to Peter Drury for trying to tell me I was watching an interesting game like it wasn’t just “okay we’ll wait for one of their shitty defenders to give us a goal, and then just stand around watching their shitty attackers fail to score one”. There’s part of me that thinks, maybe Arteta could have gone for it more, but honestly the fact we could do that, penultimate game of a title race, and I had absolutely no doubt that they just would not score (Amad was threatening when he was like 50 yards for goal, Garnacho was dogshit… Read more »
That was nail biting. Tuesday we plead with Tot****#*%}^ to do it for London.
Unfortunately we need Liverpool to beat Villa first to at least give s***s something to play for
A draw will be enough to give them something.
I need a handful of relicalm.
Liverpool will murder villa. Villa are done.
Spurs also playing for Europa League
Not a vintage performance by any means but the 1-0 will do. Here’s to Spuds on Tuesday!
COYG
If Spurs can pull a draw on Tuesday, goals difference comes in handy.
I expected more goals after the first one.
So happy and proud of this team! Whatever happens next weekend, Mikel and his team, took the treble winners to the final day.
Our title is coming, and these players will win it
Ten Hag won the tactical battle today. The game was played the way United wanted it for most of the first half and too much of the second half. The reason is that they were able to use a mobile, aggressive midfield trio to unsettle Arsenal’s buidup and pressed us into our own final third. We didn’t have elite composure in buildup or elite outlets to combat that. Partey was notably subpar and Arsenal missed his dynamism and quality in possession in this game. Then when they had the ball, they used Dalot to create numerical superiority centrally and had… Read more »
I don’t agree that Ten Haag won the tactical battle but regardless, he lost the game anyway. Strange victory for him.
When Arsenal play like Arsenal, we dominate possession and territory. We did neither today.
Peformances matter more than results, and this was not a good one for us. Not many teams have forced us to cede possession to them. I didn’t mind it 3-0 up against Totts but to go there at 1-0 when you have solutions to change it was not the right call IMO. I want to see us dictating the tempo and that means controlling the ball and the territory. We’ve done that for 95% of the season but not in this game.
“Performances matter more than results?” We just left Old Trafford with 3 points in one of Arsenal’s most important matches of the last 20 years, and this is your best shot?
People need to understand that it was an emphasis on performances over results that got us to this point. Reacting to results first gets you in exactly the position Manchester United are in at present. Analyze the process, react to the performance. That is what a winning institution does. I’m obviously really happy with the win but I enjoy going much deeper than that.
Performances matter more than results early in the season because they indicate what will happen later. With two matches to play–now one–it is absolutely irrelevant how well or badly a team play if they win the match.
I’m not daft, I wouldn’t trade a great performance for a poor result. But if I just say the performance doesn’t matter Im lying to myself and to all of you because it does. First of all because the season isn’t over and second because we are building something that goes beyond just this season. Listen to Mikel if you don’t believe me. He wasn’t happy with that at all.
Um, we won game … I think Arteta knew exactly what he was doing at Old Trafford today.
Yes, he did. Went with pragmatism over his football ideas/ideals. It’s fine, but it’s not great. Could’ve easily been sucker punched.
Sure, but we gave them nothing today — I think that’s that been Arteta’s gameplan all season. And it’s worked, again.
We give them nothing when they dont’ get the ball. That’s vastly different from letting them have it and relying on defending all game. We’ve only really done that at City. They had way too many final 3rd entries and touches in our penalty area. Uncharacteristic of this team.
Not that easily, obvs
I agree with all of this. The buildup through the midfield was notably absent and Partey didn’t feel like he was able to keep tempo or unbalance them. I did feel Zin would have allowed us to take the center of the park back but frankly I’m not sure I’d have sacrificed the defensive stability either.
Well said, it was a tough balance. Interesting to read in Mikel’s commentary that he felt the conservatism stemmed from the players, but he could’ve changed it.
I think he lost it 1-0 to be fair
Value performances over results if you want to be an elite institution. Yes right now it’s all about the 3 points but on a grander scale I care how we show up at OT on a day when I felt we had the goods to properly stomp them. Could’ve easily gone wrong with this type of approach and I don’t want people to come away thinking this was ok. Job done yes but if I’m in the dressing room after as a coach I’m not happy.
Maybe that’s a little harsh but I’m coming from a place of knowing what this team can do because I’ve seen it so many times. We are so much better than what we showed today.
We didn’t play well, but did what was needed; win.
Its down to the neighbours now. Do they all but hand us the title or be Spursy and sabotage their own hopes of playing Champions league football to deny us the title.
Hopefully they play that Van De Ven fella in defence, midfield and attack again. It’s their only hope.
Two things:
Today we secured 2nd place. Not a massive thing, but it’s nice to know that Liverpool can’t catch us now.
Trossard’s goal. Can anyone remember the last time that this Arsenal team sprang an attack down our right flank, and scored, with neither Saka nor Ødegaard involved?
Awful, rubbish, boring game and a pathetic Arsenal performance. But at least we got the points.
I was looking forward to us giving United a real spanking; instead, we were cautious and completely unadventurous. We made the worst United team in 40 years actually look decent.
After we scored that goal we should have gone after them and finished the game off by half time. Instead we let them have a chance. Stupid.
It’s going to be down to the last day.
Good.
Fats I think at some point there has to be recognition that this is just quite a cautious team that thrives on control. We’re not like those high-energy Liverpool teams that can find a drubbing from nowhere, and we don’t yet have the calm imposing authority of City to maintain a controlled game state and feel like we can find a goal at any time. If you look at the way Arteta built up his team from the defense through the sad donut, if you look at the fact we have a million defenders and our only as-yet reported summer… Read more »
We were playing against Casemiro and Johnny Evans! If we went for it we would have torn them a new arse! This game should have been 3- or 4-0 to us!!
Arteta’s playing 4d chess.
What are the ideal outcomes from the match?
1. We win
2. We make Ten Hag look like he’s actually a decent manager and doesn’t get sacked!
So that a yes to both and this way we might benefit from playing a shit Utd next season as well!
Ten Hag won the tactical battle today. The game was played the way United wanted it for most of the first half and too much of the second half. The reason is that they were able to use a mobile, aggressive midfield trio to unsettle Arsenal’s buidup and pressed us into our own final third. We didn’t have sufficient quality/composure in buildup to combat that. TP was notably subpar and Arsenal missed his dynamism and quality in possession in this game. Then when they had the ball, they used Dalot to create numerical superiority centrally and had lots of possession… Read more »
We won the game, we won the game, we won the game!!!
I know brother, but I can’t not analyze games, it’s how I’m wired!
Indeed, but sometimes our analysis brings about the wrong conclusions — something the scoreline and three points contest. We might be tempted to say that this wasn’t a vintage Arsenal performance, for example, when in fact 1-nil to the Arsenal away from home in a title race is quite vintage indeed! 😉
A little too vintage for my taste. Oh well, let’s celebrate the result!
I assume we sat back by design.
After going 1 up against a team who loves to counter, I think it was probably wise.
As you quite rightly say though, too many of our warriors were sub par and we lost too many individual battles.
The most disappointed I’ve ever been after a win, but I’ll get over myself soon enough.
Up the Arse
I don’t think we sat back by design, judging by the first 5 minutes. We were up, up, up on them, created some chances, and then their game plan took over. We normally create and then sustain that pressure for the majority of a half.
I really don’t get all the hype around Thomas Partey, it’s like playing with ten men when he’s on the pitch. You can see that the players get to the point when they don’t want to pass to him, and that’s why the midfield is so ineffective. I really hope he’s gone in the summer, an upgrade there would make a huge difference.
Rice had just 13 touches in the first half. Do players not want to pass to him too?
Go spurs ? fuck me…
Lovely idea, but no thanks.
In the run in it doesn’t matter how you win.
But how I wish it was more comfortable. It’s obvious where this team still needs to improve, and we have a manager who I trust knows exactly how to get us there next season.
That challenge by Saliba on Garnacho(?) was sublime 😍
For the brave, nothing is impossible
Ability to win fairly easily while playing shit . Feels like we have achieved every team milestone this season and broken all the records we could and we might not get the rewards for it.
The scoreline was closer than I thought it would be and credit has to go to United for that, they played well. I have to say though, whether it was tactical or because we couldn’t on the day, we never looked like we got out of second gear and yet still had this aura of superiority about us. We looked untouchable and for all of Uniteds hustle and bustle they couldn’t really get near us. This team has grown. We’re a match for anyone in the world right now.
It was strange, they set up to stifle our buildup and dominate possession. We could’ve changed that by bringing on Jorginho and Zinchenko, but instead Arteta let United have the ball and trusted his out of possession structure. Can’t say he was wrong to do so but we had the tools to be a lot more incisive and territorially superior in this game than we were. Pragmatism won out on the day, and we have the points so I’m not complaining too much, I just think we could have been more brave and still got it done.
Which would have had the greater impact on team psyche? A good performance offensively with the greater risk to a counterattack and losing the title at OT, a place we struggle to achieve our best performances or a pragmatic approach which gives the team a positive feeling about the result to build confidence for the future. The manager also makes decisions to build experience and confidence, it was clear he valued the win over performance to build the experience of making it to the final day. They now know they can do that.
Job done. Best of all, we don’t have to watch our boys play in those hideous shirts ever again.
Love these unbeaten? shirts.
That was weird. In the first few minutes you could already see what a shamble ManU are at the back and I was fully expecting to score at least a couple before HT. But then we were cautious and slow. I am curious to hear what explanation gives Arteta. Maybe we still need to learn to cope with pressure a little bit better? Maybe the players are knackered? Delicious 3 points anyway!!
I find myself smiling at almost everything Havertz does now, in complete contrast to how I used to curse all his touches in the beginning of the season. I don’t even wish for another striker anymore. Rather an 8.
I can’t write a fucking post without it being moderated
Except when I drop an F bomb apparently
Having the ability to win the league on championship Sunday is all I care about. Plus beating those assholes at their own ground, ugly or not is always wonderful. The best part, though: my shit-supporting friends texting me they’re rooting against their own club on Tuesday. Schadenfreude is all they’ll ever have, the pathetic club. Today is a beautiful day, performance be damned. COYGCOYCOYG
Before we all jump on the ‘COYS’ train, first we need to be Liverpool fans as they thrash Villa, giving sp*rs something tangible to play for.
Will then be very funny watching their little minds tortured by the dilemma of helping us to the title or throwing away their chances of CL qualification.
I presume they have some financial bonuses tied to CL qualification so I hope that’s where their allegiance will be.
Spurs have had a strangely good record against City. I don’t think Ange will care about who wins the title, he is a pure idealist. He will set them up to win that game and they have the forwards to hurt City. That said, City have gone up a gear and look unstoppable right now, so I don’t have much hope.
Just a fool’s hope.
… So you’re saying there’s a chance?
😀
Languid. Like a lower level Italian league where the outcome was fixed. The Miracle of castel di Sangro the exciting part of the game to me was when th color guy said, bit wam today at 20. ( My mind starts spinning thinking that is about 72 isn’t?) announcer says we have millions of viewers in the USA who think that is jacket weather. Almost as funny as when Lee Dixon exposed his ignorance about lighting storms in the us. look I get the different climates. I was in London once thinking it was a beautiful summer day until I… Read more »
Not sure what miracle of Castro do sangro has to do with today’s game but I do love that book!
Recall the final game was fixed.
In order for Spurs to try a little bit against City, Villa need to open the door and lose to Liverpool on Monday night. That said Spurs are rubbish and a lost cause so hears hoping for dodgy Lasagne against West Ham
I am proud of this team. You did us proud. The EPL is ours.👊🏾💪🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Oh boy the only positive is the result, I really wanted us to batter those BLEEPS, but no, we make hard work of it!!!
Liverpool must beat Aston Villa tomorrow in order to give spurs something to play for against City.
So happy that Arsenal are making City sweat. City are leaving nothing to chance, though, reducing the goal differential difference to 3. Even if City don’t slip up, it would be nice to at least beat them in this category.