Gunners' recovery continues as key victory secured against Manchester United

Arsenal 3 Manchester United 1 
Premier League 
Wednesday 23rd April 2022  12.30pm   

There have been a couple of highly significant missed Manchester United penalties in this fixture down the years. Brian McLair’s miss in a 1988 FA Cup game at Highbury ignited a rather spicy rivalry that never really died until Arsenal fell away as title contenders after moving stadium almost 20 years later. And of course, Ruud van Nistelroy’s effort against the crossbar in the late summer of 2003 ultimately meant the Gunners were able to complete a season without suffering a league defeat. Time will tell the importance of Bruno Fernandes’ miss yesterday afternoon, but it could actually accelerate Arsenal’s return to a hint of the club’s former status if they narrowly squeeze into next season’s Champions League in five games’ time. 

A win’s a win, but this was not a 3-1 game. It was certainly cause for celebration, but until the final whistle was near enough to ensure United could not recover a two goal deficit (and late goals are always a possibility with Cristiano Ronaldo in the side), the game itself was a rollercoaster of emotions, one of them certainly being periodic moments of panic for watching Gooners. We saw both sides of Jekyll and Hyde Arsenal in this game. At times wonderful going forward, and sumptuous in their one touch football, there was contrast with some rank defending, and careless passing in their own half. Ultimately, the difference between the two sides seemed to be that United’s defence was marginally worse. 

Certainly the Gunners looked weak in both full back positions, although at least the late appearance of Tomiyasu gives hope that things can improve on the right side. Nuno Tavares did well in scoring the opener, so close to the goal that even he could not sky the ball over, but at the back it was a horrorshow and at times the crowd expressed their frustration with him. On the assumption Mikel Arteta has long term hopes for him, he cannot continue to destroy Tavares’ confidence by continually subbing him when he is playing badly, and perhaps his options on the bench prevented this, given Tomiyasu was never going to play more than a few minutes (which would have given the option of switching Cedric to left back, although we are really talking devil and deep blue sea here – remembering that Cedric himself was struggling to contain Jordan Sancho). 

On the upside, Arsenal’s central midfield pairing of Elneny and Xhaka were immense. Aside from the odd misplaced pass, the pair played a huge part in the home side’s possession game, helping work the ball forward, especially Elneny with his constant movement to make himself available for a pass. Based on this performance, if Arteta remains in post, I could live with Elneny getting an extension… words I never thought I would write. Xhaka scored a rare goal – and a corker at that – to provide a margin of comfort for the final 20 minutes of the game.

Up front, Eddie Nketiah was again preferred to Lacazette and Martinelli, which was justified after his performance against Chelsea. The early lead was a consequence of a cross from Xhaka that was somehow missed by two United defenders. It fell to Saka, and his shot was parried by De Gea into the path of Tavares, who caught his marker napping to put his team ahead. United came back and had plenty of chances in the remainder of the half. They hit the bar and there was a shout for a penalty when Elanga looked like he should have scored. VAR was used a lot and shortly before Arsenal themselves won a penalty, Nketiah was denied a goal for offside, but after VAR determined it didn’t count, it also looked at a penalty claim in the buildup before the ball fell to Nketiah, and took the view that Bukayo Saka was fouled. I was later astonished to discover that the the VAR official on duty at Stockley Park was a certain Jared Gilet, who has a history of making questionable calls against Arsenal. Maybe someone has reviewed his work and had a word. Mind you, he didn't instruct the referee to issue a red card to Fernandes later for a cynical assault on Nuno Tavares' ankle.

Saka, fresh from scoring from the spot at Chelsea, sent De Gea the wrong way to double the lead. On the balance of play, it was harsh on United, but it was only a couple of minutes before Ronaldo pulled one back after getting on the end of a cross, in spite of being closely marked by Gabriel and Tavares. It was a poor goal to concede, in spite of the number 7’s obvious clinical ability in such situations. Arsenal made it to half-time retaining their lead, but this felt like a game that would see more goals after the interval, such were the number of quality chances being created at both ends. 

The visitors earned a cheap penalty before the hour after a corner saw Tavares handle the ball, which was easily avoidable if he had not had his arm outstretched as he went up for a header. I was under the impression that any penalty in any side that starts Ronaldo meant he takes the spot kicks, but it was Bruno Fernandes who stepped up and sent Ramsdale the wrong way. Fortunately for Arsenal, his shot was the wrong side of the post and went out for a goal-kick. A huge moment that might have significant repercussions. In a sense, the game was decided by Arsenal scoring their penalty, and United not. 

In the old days when the opposition scored and the linesman raised his flag, you could relax. No longer. Ronaldo netted not long after the missed spot-kick, and did indeed look offside, but you can never be sure, and there was a moment of anxiety before VAR determined the decision was correct. Phew. TV later showed how marginal it was. Ramsdale pulled off another save as he tipped from Dalot’s shot onto the bar as United’s pressure intensified, but the pressure was relieved by a corker of a long range effort from Xhaka to send the stadium into raptures. 

You never felt it was game over because of the sheer amount of chances United had already created. Defensively they certainly have issues, but going forward it can’t be denied they were unfortunate yesterday. The switch of Holding for a limping Saka offered greater solidity at the back and seeing Tomiyasu get a few minutes towards the end was the cherry on the cake as the team immediately looked more solid. Injury time ticked down and United ran out of time to make the end of the game stressful.

What a long time a week is in football. Arsenal were on the floor after suffering a third consecutive defeat at Southampton. With one goal in those three games, you just could not see seven going in against Chelsea and Manchester United. 

Spurs’ draw at Brentford later was an additional bonus. May 12th at Tottenham’s new stadium feels more significant than this time last week, and the possibility that goal difference might determine fourth place cannot be discounted – which might favour the noisy neighbours. Having said that, the Gunners’ attacking play has come to life in the last two matches, so with Spurs failing to score in theirs, who knows? 

It does feel like United are out of the picture at the moment, but things can change quickly as we have seen. It was a day when things didn’t go for them, but in spite of all the talk of dressing room unrest, there are some decent players in their team, but you can’t see both of Tottenham and Arsenal collapsing sufficiently to let them back in, and their run-in does include a visit from Chelsea and a final day trip to Selhurst Park. They probably need to win all their four games to have any chance, and have taken four points from the last 15. Form isn’t on their side, but you could have said the same about Arsenal last weekend. Now, hope has returned, although of course, hope is the burden of every football fan.

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