Arsenal emerged victorious in the most dramatic fashion against Manchester United at the Emirates in the reverse fixture as Eddie Nketiah scored a brace to see Arsenal seal all three points.
Arsenal fought strong and well against Manchester United to see them off, but there were moments in the game where Arsenal were simply not quite playing like they usually do. Before going a goal down, Arsenal looked very shaky in possession and this ended up costing them as Marcus Rashford struck the ball beautifully from outside the area to give United the lead.
Not long after however, Arsenal started playing more aggressively but this time without being as careless in possession and Eddie Nketiah got onto the back of a cross played in by Xhaka to level the game. The remainder of the first half was played equally well by both teams however, there were no goals. As we went into the second half, Arsenal looked comparatively much better with the ball at their feet, they were looking more threatening, more composed on the ball. They were sustaining attacks, building pressure like we’ve been used to seeing Arsenal do at the Emirates this season.
Bukayo Saka saw what Marcus Rashford done & said I can do it better. He struck a beautiful long range shot into the back of the net to see Arsenal take the lead it the 53rd minute of the game. However the lead didn’t last long & was shortly canceled out by Lisandro Martinez’s header into the back of the net. Again, this was caused by Arsenal’s shakiness at the back with Thomas Partey giving away a sloppy corner & Aaron Ramsdale flapping at the ball in the box.
As we headed into the final 20 minutes of the game Arsenal took complete control and the ball was constantly in United’s half of the pitch. Arsenal were suffocating Manchester United. They were piling the pressure onto United and not letting them have a moment to breathe, and eventually Eddie Nketiah scored the last minute header in the most dramatic fashion.
It was Arsenal’s fighting mentality that won them the game in the end. They believe in the way they play & they should considering where they are in the league table. Mikel Arteta’s side didn’t panic, expertly shown by Zinchenko who controlled the game in the last 20 minutes. The game was played at The Ukranian’s pace. He decided the outcome.
Last season Arsenal always seemed to have some kind of mental block because of which they never used to play as aggressively and confidently. If we were to face this Manchester United squad last season I think it would be safe to say they could have ended up settling for the point. But with players such as Zinchenko and Xhaka who are proper mentality monsters, the entire team are inspired to fight on with the same mental strength and there’s always the inspiring half-time talks from Mikel Arteta to push his players to do better.
