The Premier League continues its descent into the madness of its winter schedule. Here are the winners and losers of matchweek 15.
The past few matches between big six teams have been a joy to watch. Last week, Liverpool played Chelsea to a fascinating 1-1 draw. The highly-anticipated game between Arsenal and Manchester United was much, much better, and might end up as the season’s best contest, regardless of the final 3-1 scoreline. Posts were hit, cards (including a red) were shown, keepers were saving shots they had no business even getting a hand to and Paul Pogba stole one of the best defenders in the league’s soul. There were other games to watch over the weekend, but none mattered much after witnessing that match.
Here are the winners
of the Arsenal vs. Manchester United game
of the weekend of Premier League matches.
Winner: David De Gea
Where were you when the game of the 2017-18 season was happening?
The Saturday afternoon Arsenal vs. Manchester United match on national television lived up to any hype it deservedly received and then some. United won the contest 3-1, but the score line couldn’t possibly mislead anyone more if it tried.
xG map for Arsenal - Manchester United.
— Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) December 2, 2017
If you chose to spend time with your family instead of being glued to the tv watching this match, I'm sorry for your bad choices. pic.twitter.com/Jw3FkoUadr
In recent meetings, the drama surrounding Arsenal-United was mostly memories, reminiscing about times when the two clubs were the best in the Premier League. This particular game, however, was the best since those days of old.
United took the lead early, capitalizing on two horrific mistakes from the Arsenal backline. Laurent Koscielny and Shkodran Mustafi were the main culprits leading to United’s first two goals that Antonio Valencia and Jesse Lingard capitalized on. After Arsenal got their early game jitters out, they dominated the game. There were multiple moments where the Gunners had the ball inside of United’s six-yard box and failed to score. Most of that was down to David De Gea having the game of his storied career.
De Gea is the Premier League’s best keeper. United fans should give thanks to Real Madrid every day for bungling the transfer in 2015. De Gea made incredible saves look routine against Arsenal, and denied the Gunners from putting five past a shaky United defense. His double save against Alexandre Lacazette and Alexis Sanchez in the second half alone would’ve granted him a position in this column, but he made 12 other stops in the game to keep Arsenal at bay, matching the most saves by a Premier League keeper in recorded history.
Words cannot do this game justice. A 3-1 score line gives the “stats don’t matter” crowd more ammunition than they know what to do with. If you missed this match, and have the time and resources to watch a replay, do it. Stop whatever you’re doing now and watch it.