4 December 2024
Arsenal 2 Man Utd 0
It was the first real test of the Ruben Amorim era as he took his Man Utd side to North London to face Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal. The hosts had some absentees, the most noticeable being Gabriel in the heart of defence. Both sides craved victory in this one but The Gunners knew they cannot afford to drop any more points if they are going to put in a title challenge.
The game started off as a scrappy affair with neither midfield able to take control of things. Arsenal forced a cheap corner when Dalot put it behind. From the resulting set piece, the hosts should have taken the lead. Rice picked out Partey in the box but he took his eye off the ball and completely missed his header. Instead it hit his shoulder and went wide.
That summed up the quality on show for fans for large periods of this game. It was not pretty. Arsenal fans will look back on it as an important result, but sometimes points matter more than performances. This was definitely one for that category. Sir Jim Ratcliffe was probably wishing he was watching dodgy safety videos in some chemical factory somewhere instead.
Arteta could not believe the Ghanaian had missed the chance. To his credit, Thomas Partey has a head that would not look out of place if he were buried to his neck on Easter Island. You hit one of those edges on that nut, the ball is heading off in all directions. On this occasion, the head was not a factor, keeping his eyes open was the issue. And his shoulder’s lack of goalscoring instinct.
Arsenal set pieces were causing problems for Man Utd every time. As a corner came in, the half-clearance dropped to Zinchenko, who looked to fire a shot off at goal. It was well blocked but it then ricocheted into the path of Martinelli. When a goal looked certain, he passed his effort wide of the top corner to groans from the fans behind the goal.
Martinelli would have made a brilliant renaissance sculptor, they rarely finished anything as well. It must be a frustrating sight as an Arsenal fan as the Brazilian often shows there is a player in him dying to get out. Sadly it comes around with all the regularity of Halley’s Comet. To be there when it happens, what a treat that would be. Like witnessing the JFK assassination.
This game felt like it needed a goal to get it going. There was no danger any of the first hour was going to appear in some Premier League showreel. That will be firmly left on the cutting room floor, that is for sure. Arsenal looked the more likely to score out of the two teams but Amorim was clinging onto the hope they could still steal the points with one counter-attack.
Towards the end of the half, Man Utd finally decided to venture forward. They repeatedly tried crosses into the box but were cleared. Mount then tried a volley from outside the box and sliced it so badly, it turned into a good pass for Maguire. The ball found its way to Dalot with a real sight of goal. He thundered his shot wide of the target to sum up their first half performance.
The Gunners started getting players forward more. Timber and Odegaard were involved before the ball broke to Rice. He looked to get a shot away but it deflected over the bar for a corner. Garnacho gave the ball away as Odegaard ran off into space. He played it into the path of Martinelli who looked to drop his shoulder and cross, blocked for another corner.
Rice swung the ball in and it was met by a glancing header from Timber at the near post. It beat everyone and nestled in the far corner as The Emirates erupted. Finally Arsenal had managed to break the deadlock in this dour affair. Everyone was hoping that this would spark the game into life finally. This promised so much more.
Shortly after, Arsenal were almost at it again. Rice’s corner was glanced on this time by Zirkzee. Fortunately for the visitors, Ugarte reacted quickly on the line to head it clear. Man Utd countered and had their first shot on target of the game in the process. De Ligt’s header was bounding for the far corner until Raya did brilliantly to claw it out of the goal.
Arteta’s side looked like they needed another goal to put this game to bed. A single goal advantage is always a dangerous lead. The Gunners forced another corner and the cross found Partey at the back post. He looked to head it across goal but it struck the hip of Saliba and ended in the back of the net. Not a goal of the month contender but Arsenal will take it all the same.
From this point it was one way traffic. Rice was creating carnage with his deliveries and this time Onana scrambled it over from under his own crossbar. Havertz found himself clean through on goal but drilled his shot straight at the Man Utd keeper. The Red Devils were struggling to stay in this game and were willing the full-time whistle.
Arsenal took the three points and deservedly so. If anything, this showed Ruben Amorim just how much work he has to do at Old Trafford. His team were barely in this game. Now he can see where the bar is and his side are a country-mile away from that. Meanwhile The Gunners reduce the gap between them and Liverpool to seven points.
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