Arsenal 1-3 Manchester United: Premier League highlights and recap

Manchester United beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates on Saturday, Dec. 2. Here are all the highlights from the Premier League match.

Manchester United beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates on Saturday, which is the least descriptive scoreline in any match this season. The game was an extraordinary, end-to-end contest that could have ended 3-2, 4-2, 4-3, 7-5 — take your pick. And for all the chances United created, it was Arsenal who deserved to win.

That they didn’t was a result of terrible first 10 minutes, during which two defensive errors led to United goals. The first was scored by Antonio Valencia, who picked of Laurent Koxcielny’s apss out of the back, exchanged passes with Paul Pogba and drilled his shot through Petr Chech’s legs.

Shkodran Mustafi was at fault for the second. Jess Lingard stole the ball from the center-back, played it to Romelu Lukaku, who beat his man and found Anthony Martial. Martial turned and flicked the ball in one breathtaking movement back to Lingard, who finished first-time off the post.

Arsenal responded excellently, however, forcing David De Gea into a string of excellent saves. The best came from Alexandre Lacazette and Granit Xhaka, but his goal was peppered almost constantly as the Gunners forced United deeper and deeper into their own half as the match approached halftime.

The break didn’t prove to be much of a reprieve for Jose Mourinho’s side, as Lacazette finally got Arsenal on the scoreboard with a powerful finish following Aaron Ramsey’s knockdown. It was the least they deserved for their response to such a bad start, though it was something of a mystery how it managed to take them so long.

With Arsenal pouring forward in attack, however, United had their opportunities on the break. Lingard, in particular, looked dangerous, and restored his side’s two goal lead in the 63rd minute, the assist provided by Paul Pogba, whose touch to beat Laurent Koscielny on the touchline was masterful.

Arsenal had a few more chances after conceding the third, but after Pogba was sent off in the 74th minute for a stamp on Hector Bellerin, United finally started defending with some purpose, and limited the Gunners to half chances to see out the result.

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Highlights

https://twitter.com/NBCSportsSoccer/status/937019619956621314

United stay second with the win, five points behind first-place Manchester City, who play Sunday. Arsenal drop down to fifth after Liverpool won earlier in the day.