United (somehow) beat Arsenal: 3 things we learned
Manchester United beat Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates in what was the best game of the Premier League season so far. Here are three takeaways from the match.
Manchester United rode two early goals to a 3-1 victory against Arsenal at the Emirates on Saturday. The Gunners dominated the vast majority of the match, but couldn’t capitalize on their chances. Here are three takeaways from a wild game.
The best kind of defending is no defending
Jose Mourinho has received a lot of criticism for his approach in away games to other members of the big six. Heading into this one, his side had scored only once in 10 away matches to Manchester City, Tottenham, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.
They scored two against Arsenal in 11 minutes. Having gone ahead, it seemed Mourinho’s side would revert to type, sit deep and see out the result with a characteristically solid defensive performance. They did sit deep, but they didn’t do much defending.
David De Gea made 14 saves in total, several of them as good as any he’s produced all season. What exactly United’s players were doing, other than standing behind the ball, is hard to say, but it made for the best match of the season so far.
We shouldn’t let Arsenal off the hook either. They made two errors to gift United the lead early on, and left themselves exposed as they chased the game, while Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Sead Kolasinac all made costly errors.
But to complain about the poor defending would be to miss the point, which is that this game wouldn’t have been nearly as fun if either side defended like they usually do. Mourinho will never admit it, but defending’s overrated.
Jesse Lingard impresses again
Jesse Lingard seemed to have fallen out favor with Mourinho this season, as Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Juan Mata all jumped ahead of him in the pecking order.
But Lingard has shown his worth over the past two matches. He was excellent against Watford on Tuesday, capping his performance with a wonderful solo goal, and made a telling difference again against Arsenal.
Mourinho may like Lingard primarily for the work he gets through off the ball, but he’s capable of some moments of exceptional individual skill. He showed it all in scoring United’s second against the Gunners, tackling Mustafi to initiate the move and finishing with a pinpoint first-time shot.
Lingard was also United’s best outlet on the break during the period of the match when Arsenal had pinned them in their defensive third. It led to his second goal in the match in the 63rd minute. Paul Pogba made the goal with an outrageous piece of skill to beat Koscielny, but Lingard’s running proved a difference maker.
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Arsenal can be pleased despite result
After 11 minutes, it seemed Arsenal would be on the wrong end of another thrashing by one of their so-called rivals. But when Mustafi left the game with an injury after getting caught out for United’s second goal, the Gunners were transformed.
Alexandre Lacazette could have had three goals, Granit Xhaka and Alexis Sanchez could have had two each, Aaron Ramsey could have had one … you get the idea. This was a big game for the Gunners, who came into this match on an impressive run of form.
A win would have cemented their status as legitimate top-four contenders, as opposed to the top-four afterthoughts they have occasionally looked like becoming over the past year. They didn’t get one, but they were comfortably the better team.
Perhaps we shouldn’t draw too many sweeping conclusion from a game as wild as this, but Arsene Wenger can take plenty of positives from this match, especially the way his side fought back after falling behind.