Arsenal 1-3 Manchester United
2nd December 2017 17:30 kick-off
Match report by William Okafor-Oregan
Image by Daily Express
Manchester United had lethal, counter attacking football and
Arsenal met it with free-flowing, never-ending attacking that created a most
memorable, breath-taking game of football. Arguably the best game
of the season so far. End-to-end football from both teams throughout, as United
started aggressively but defended resolutely as Arsenal did nothing but
absolutely pepper United's net with 31 shots but only 1 goal to show for it.
United had been at the
front-foot at the beginning of the game and through their intense pressing,
they opened the scoring as Pogba released Antonio Valencia in space in the box
and his low driven shot couldn't be stopped by Petr Cech. Just 10 minutes into
the game, United had doubled their lead after Mustafi had been dispossessed and
a smart through ball from Lukaku to Anthony Martial who pivoted in front of
goal and set up Lingard, who emphatically shot off the post to score.
It was even more bad news for
the home team as Skhodran Mustafi who picked up a knock a few minutes before
had to be replaced in the aftermath of the 2nd goal. Iwobi came on his place as
Arsenal switched their formation to have 4 at the back.
Image by Daily Mirror
For the first 20 minutes or so
Arsenal had enjoyed a lot of the ball but certainly did not enjoy how difficult
it had been to break their opponents down. Good fortune soon had hit Man United twice in
the space of a minute, Alexandre Lacazette was prevented twice at the near post from
bringing Arsenal a goal as he agonisingly poked the ball wide of the goal both times. The chances kept
coming, as an incredible goal line scramble culminated in Lacazette racing onto the ball inside the 6-yard box and then proceeding to wriggle past defenders, glide
past a helpless De Gea and with 3 United players on the goal-line, he could
only fire his shot at De Gea's body which then crashed off the cross-bar.
Seconds later Xhaka had retrieved the ball but he could only curl a long, speculative effort
just past the post.
At this point it was 35 minutes in and
Arsenal had been dominating 70% possession of the game but their efforts for a
goal to bring them back into the game were still coming up short. Particularly
highlighting how strong United's defence had been. Later on a brilliant
exchange of close-range passing outside of the 18 yard box between Lacazette,
Ozil and Ramsey led to a half-chance for Lacazette close to United's goal but
the defence still wouldn't let him through.
Arsenal worked up yet another
amazing opportunity to score from that resulting corner only a minute later as
another frantic scramble in the box found the ball at Ramsey's feet with what seemed
like acres of space but his shot was well-blocked by a desperate United
defence. Two minutes from half-time, and De Gea had his most impressive moments of the game
when he pulled off outstanding back-to-back saves to deny a long-range
Bellerin strike then a dipping shot by Arsenal's other full-back, Kolasinac
outside the box.
The first half was about to end
but not without another moment of madness. Alexis Sanchez had curled in a
free-kick that ended up with Lukaku almost scoring an own goal in his attempt
to clear but De Gea's reflexes were equal to it and he saved it expertly at the
near post.
Early into the second half, Arsenal had finally found the goal they were hunting for. It felt like play had frozen when the entire United wall were left like statues as a Sanchez floating free-lick found Ramsey right in front of goal. A brilliant pull-back from Ramsey into Lacazette who had also beat the offside trap resulted in a confident belter of a finish past De Gea to make it 2-1. This time there really was nothing the Spanish shot-stopper could do.
Image by Daily Mail
It had only been a total of 10 minutes into the second half and Lacazette,
who found himself well onside, clear on goal just 10 yards out a with a chance
to equalise still failed to do so. He had a low shot yet again well saved by De Gea. But De Gea's heroics weren’t done yet, as he got up phenomenally quickly to stop Sanchez
from scoring on the rebound of that save, even with the goal at his mercy.
But just after the hour-mark, United found that third goal and it had really been against the run of play. It was swift and incisive counter-attacking through the
middle of the field that started in their own half. Lingard released Pogba on
the right-wing and by using much of his strength to hold off Koscielny, he
reached the by-line and sent a low cross across the 6-yard box for Lingard to
tap into an empty net.
An emphatic shot by Sanchez soon followed after the goal, as he
smacked a half-volley outside the box through a packed bunch of players but De
Gea had seen the ball the whole way through and dived low to save it. Up to 70
minutes had now gone on and even with Arsenal having 77% of the possession they
still found themselves desperately pursuing a way back to salvage the game
having spurned countless great chances.
More Arsenal attacking dominated the
game with another great chance, this time Koscielny venturing forward with the
ball from his own half, a quick pass out wide to Bellerin who's subsequent
through ball was met by the same on-rushing centre back. But Koscielny managed to slash the ball towards goal from the by-line but it could only hit a stubborn wall
of United black shirts who continued to protect their lead.
If spectators thought things couldn’t get any more nerve-wracking, they
were soon proven wrong. Seemingly out of nowhere a Pogba challenge on the back
of Bellerin's leg had left the referee Andre Marriner with little choice but to
send the midefielder off.
Image by Evening Standard
There wasn’t much left of the
game to go when Welbeck had a big deflected shot dipping goal-wards to force De
Gea to tip the ball over his bar. Another big talking point came when Lukaku nearly
had a run at goal himself but after tussling with Koscielny in a nearly empty
Arsenal half of the pitch he went down. Questions were raised if Koscielny was the last man preventing Lukaku being through on goal and if that warranted a sending off. The referee
decided it was more appropriate to brandish a yellow card for the Frenchman.
In the dying moments of the game Arsenal had a strong penalty appeal when Welbeck was brought
down by a trailing leg by Darmian. Controversially no penalty was given
even though replays showed there looked to be enough contact on the challenge for it to be given.
Sanchez and Herrera got into a heated interaction not so long after that and both got themselves booked. Minutes later, more penalty drama ensued as Lacazette was brought down by a Rojo tackle in the area but yet again the
referee was not interested.
Two minutes into stoppage time had been played and Arsenal were still valiantly knocking on United's door. A searching Sanchez lob into
the box was met by an instant ball into the middle by Ozil, but Ramsey couldn't
quite keep the ball down and it flew miles above goal.
The game stayed at 3-1 to the visiting team when the final whistle blew. It was a very well-deserved victory but much of it was owed to the super-human like form of Spanish international David De Gea. It is an understatement to say he was the difference between a United victory or perhaps a thumping win for Arsenal, but it was he who had the final say on what will be remembered as a classic game for years to come.
Match report by William Okafor-Oregan
Image by Daily Express
Manchester United had lethal, counter attacking football and
Arsenal met it with free-flowing, never-ending attacking that created a most
memorable, breath-taking game of football. Arguably the best game
of the season so far. End-to-end football from both teams throughout, as United
started aggressively but defended resolutely as Arsenal did nothing but
absolutely pepper United's net with 31 shots but only 1 goal to show for it.
United had been at the
front-foot at the beginning of the game and through their intense pressing,
they opened the scoring as Pogba released Antonio Valencia in space in the box
and his low driven shot couldn't be stopped by Petr Cech. Just 10 minutes into
the game, United had doubled their lead after Mustafi had been dispossessed and
a smart through ball from Lukaku to Anthony Martial who pivoted in front of
goal and set up Lingard, who emphatically shot off the post to score.
It was even more bad news for
the home team as Skhodran Mustafi who picked up a knock a few minutes before
had to be replaced in the aftermath of the 2nd goal. Iwobi came on his place as
Arsenal switched their formation to have 4 at the back.
Image by Daily Mirror
For the first 20 minutes or so
Arsenal had enjoyed a lot of the ball but certainly did not enjoy how difficult
it had been to break their opponents down. Good fortune soon had hit Man United twice in
the space of a minute, Alexandre Lacazette was prevented twice at the near post from
bringing Arsenal a goal as he agonisingly poked the ball wide of the goal both times. The chances kept
coming, as an incredible goal line scramble culminated in Lacazette racing onto the ball inside the 6-yard box and then proceeding to wriggle past defenders, glide
past a helpless De Gea and with 3 United players on the goal-line, he could
only fire his shot at De Gea's body which then crashed off the cross-bar.
Seconds later Xhaka had retrieved the ball but he could only curl a long, speculative effort
just past the post.
At this point it was 35 minutes in and
Arsenal had been dominating 70% possession of the game but their efforts for a
goal to bring them back into the game were still coming up short. Particularly
highlighting how strong United's defence had been. Later on a brilliant
exchange of close-range passing outside of the 18 yard box between Lacazette,
Ozil and Ramsey led to a half-chance for Lacazette close to United's goal but
the defence still wouldn't let him through.
Arsenal worked up yet another
amazing opportunity to score from that resulting corner only a minute later as
another frantic scramble in the box found the ball at Ramsey's feet with what seemed
like acres of space but his shot was well-blocked by a desperate United
defence. Two minutes from half-time, and De Gea had his most impressive moments of the game
when he pulled off outstanding back-to-back saves to deny a long-range
Bellerin strike then a dipping shot by Arsenal's other full-back, Kolasinac
outside the box.
United pushed further up the
field and in the blink of an eye, Pogba's low cross into the 6 yard box nearly
ended up making United's third goal as Cech barely got his hands onto the ball
before Lukuku's out-stretched leg could've put it past him.
The first half was about to end
but not without another moment of madness. Alexis Sanchez had curled in a
free-kick that ended up with Lukaku almost scoring an own goal in his attempt
to clear but De Gea's reflexes were equal to it and he saved it expertly at the
near post.
Early into the second half, Arsenal had finally found the goal they were hunting for. It felt like play had frozen when the entire United wall were left like statues as a Sanchez floating free-lick found Ramsey right in front of goal. A brilliant pull-back from Ramsey into Lacazette who had also beat the offside trap resulted in a confident belter of a finish past De Gea to make it 2-1. This time there really was nothing the Spanish shot-stopper could do.
Early into the second half, Arsenal had finally found the goal they were hunting for. It felt like play had frozen when the entire United wall were left like statues as a Sanchez floating free-lick found Ramsey right in front of goal. A brilliant pull-back from Ramsey into Lacazette who had also beat the offside trap resulted in a confident belter of a finish past De Gea to make it 2-1. This time there really was nothing the Spanish shot-stopper could do.
Image by Daily Mail
It had only been a total of 10 minutes into the second half and Lacazette,
who found himself well onside, clear on goal just 10 yards out a with a chance
to equalise still failed to do so. He had a low shot yet again well saved by De Gea. But De Gea's heroics weren’t done yet, as he got up phenomenally quickly to stop Sanchez
from scoring on the rebound of that save, even with the goal at his mercy.
But just after the hour-mark, United found that third goal and it had really been against the run of play. It was swift and incisive counter-attacking through the
middle of the field that started in their own half. Lingard released Pogba on
the right-wing and by using much of his strength to hold off Koscielny, he
reached the by-line and sent a low cross across the 6-yard box for Lingard to
tap into an empty net.
An emphatic shot by Sanchez soon followed after the goal, as he
smacked a half-volley outside the box through a packed bunch of players but De
Gea had seen the ball the whole way through and dived low to save it. Up to 70
minutes had now gone on and even with Arsenal having 77% of the possession they
still found themselves desperately pursuing a way back to salvage the game
having spurned countless great chances.
More Arsenal attacking dominated the game with another great chance, this time Koscielny venturing forward with the ball from his own half, a quick pass out wide to Bellerin who's subsequent through ball was met by the same on-rushing centre back. But Koscielny managed to slash the ball towards goal from the by-line but it could only hit a stubborn wall of United black shirts who continued to protect their lead.
More Arsenal attacking dominated the game with another great chance, this time Koscielny venturing forward with the ball from his own half, a quick pass out wide to Bellerin who's subsequent through ball was met by the same on-rushing centre back. But Koscielny managed to slash the ball towards goal from the by-line but it could only hit a stubborn wall of United black shirts who continued to protect their lead.
If spectators thought things couldn’t get any more nerve-wracking, they
were soon proven wrong. Seemingly out of nowhere a Pogba challenge on the back
of Bellerin's leg had left the referee Andre Marriner with little choice but to
send the midefielder off.
Subsequently both teams made
substitutions evidently showing United’s desire to close up shop as Lingard made way for
Darmian while Arsenal’s need for a goal saw Giroud came on for Kolasinac.
Image by Evening Standard
There wasn’t much left of the
game to go when Welbeck had a big deflected shot dipping goal-wards to force De
Gea to tip the ball over his bar. Another big talking point came when Lukaku nearly
had a run at goal himself but after tussling with Koscielny in a nearly empty
Arsenal half of the pitch he went down. Questions were raised if Koscielny was the last man preventing Lukaku being through on goal and if that warranted a sending off. The referee
decided it was more appropriate to brandish a yellow card for the Frenchman.
In the dying moments of the game Arsenal had a strong penalty appeal when Welbeck was brought down by a trailing leg by Darmian. Controversially no penalty was given even though replays showed there looked to be enough contact on the challenge for it to be given.
Sanchez and Herrera got into a heated interaction not so long after that and both got themselves booked. Minutes later, more penalty drama ensued as Lacazette was brought down by a Rojo tackle in the area but yet again the referee was not interested.
Two minutes into stoppage time had been played and Arsenal were still valiantly knocking on United's door. A searching Sanchez lob into
the box was met by an instant ball into the middle by Ozil, but Ramsey couldn't
quite keep the ball down and it flew miles above goal.
The game stayed at 3-1 to the visiting team when the final whistle blew. It was a very well-deserved victory but much of it was owed to the super-human like form of Spanish international David De Gea. It is an understatement to say he was the difference between a United victory or perhaps a thumping win for Arsenal, but it was he who had the final say on what will be remembered as a classic game for years to come.
Comments
Post a Comment