Arsenal Vs Manchester United: Highlights and analysis – Youthful bittersweet

Arsenal travelled to Manchester United for the last time in Arsene Wenger’s reign on Sunday afternoon. Here is the full recap, all the highlights and analysis of the 2-1 loss.

Expectations were low when Arsenal wandered north to face Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United. Arsene Wenger, with Thursday night’s Atletico Madrid tie in mind, fielded an extremely youthful side, handing a debut to Konstantinos Mavropanos and inserting the likes of Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Reiss Nelson in midfield. And so, the performance that they put in was admirable. Industrious, character-full, and laced with a tidy quality, while it was United who ended the game as perhaps the superior team and with all three points in their back pockets, given their relative strengths, this was hope in this Sunday afternoon outing.

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It was a loose start for a young and obviously naive Arsenal team. While clear-cut chances were not exactly created early on, there were signs that United possessed the attacking capabilities to exploit the many positional errors of their visitors. Ainsley Maitland-Niles was caught ahead of the play on a couple of occasions, Sead Kolasinac was unsure of where to stand, while the more experienced and established players like Granit Xhaka and Calum Chambers failed to instil any real structure or organisation without the ball. All such warts were painfully evident for United’s first goal.

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Reiss Nelson initially lost the ball in the midfield area. Then Paul Pogba, the eventual goalscorer, drove into the space that Maitland-Niles had vacated in the Arsenal move, skipped past Granit Xhaka and slipped the ball wide to Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian centre-forward, not especially pressured by Konstantinos Mavropanos, picked out Alexis Sanchez at the far post, whose stretched volley deflected off Hector Bellerin, the post, and right into the feet of Pogba, who duly scored.

The goal seemed to settle Arsenal down, however. In fairness, they looked quite comfortable in possession prior to the goal. It was just their positional uncertainty and disjointedness without it that was so loose and concerning. That said, as the first half progressed, the Gunners’ confidence and comfort grew. Ainsley Maitland-Niles was extremely impressive in possession, as was Henrikh Mkhitaryan and the deeper-lying tandem of Granit Xhaka and Alex Iwobi.

There was a lovely move that showcased Arsenal at their most fluid, with Iwobi and Hector Bellerin connecting to find Maitland-Niles in the penalty area. His lovely flicked layoff teed up Henrikh Mkhitaryan perfectly, but the shot was dragged wide. Bellerin had other opportunities to pick out a teammate in the box: twice he aimed for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang after being released by Reiss Nelson and Alex Iwobi respectively, finding him just the once — he skewed the other into the arms of David de Gea –, but the Gabonian’s header was weak and comfortable for the United shot-stopper.

Nevertheless, this was a nice and tidy performance by Arsenal in the first half. The defensive vulnerabilities were worrying, though not surprising whatsoever, but their play in possession, even when a goal down, for a young and inexperienced side, was admirable. Certainly, there have been much worse first-half performances by far more experienced teams at Old Trafford.

And the improving Arsenal got their just desserts early in the second half. It was messy from United, with Granit Xhaka allowed to nip in and win the ball back high up the pitch. But as soon as he prodded it to Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the Armenian confidently worked his way towards the goal. Using the run of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to engineer some space for himself, Mkhitaryan set himself up on the edge of the penalty area before arrowing a shot back across the goal and into the bottom corner, leaving David de Gea stranded.

The second half meandered through its progression without too much controversy or excitement. Both teams worked the ball well through midfield, but lacked a cutting-edge in the final third, with chances difficult to create in and around the penalty area. Jose Mourinho introduced Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, both of whose pace and directness caused a couple of problems. But, for the most part, this was a game without a cause.

Arsenal did begin to tire in the latter stages. Martial started to cause Bellerin some real issues down the left flank, but the centre-half pairing of Konstantinos Mavropanos and Calum Chambers repelled the attacks of United wonderfully. The aerial presence of Marouane Fellaini was clearly Mourinho’s tactic, but the two young defenders were more than up for the task.

At the other end, the Gunners’ offered a decreasing threat, unable to work a foothold for themselves in midfield, lacking the breaks from deep with Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Alex Iwobi both tiring. United did have the ball in the back of the net as Marcus Rashford careered Marouane Fellaini’s rebounded header into the goal, but it was correctly ruled offside. And then the agony came.

United bombarded the Arsenal box with cross after cross, often looking for Marouane Fellaini at the far post. And that was where the goal came from. Ashley Young had time to take the ball under his control. He swung a delicious cross into the far edge of the penalty area, and indeed Fellaini rose highest, climbing above Granit Xhaka to direct the header into the corner past David Ospina.

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It was a shame for this Arsenal side that deserved more for their efforts. But their youthfulness shone through in the end, a lack of fitness and energy costing them dear. Nevertheless, with Wenger leaving at the end of the year, there were many good accounts made by several individuals hoping to impress the new manager. This was not the normal loss. There is plenty of hope in this display.

Highlights