GUNNED DOWN
United take the points
ARSENAL have endured some humiliations at the hands of Manchester United in recent years. Notably there was that awful 8-2 defeat at Old Trafford among a smattering of comprehensive victories as Arsenal waned from their previous position of power.
They have bided their time in North London, they have waited patiently for the roles to be reversed, for Arsenal to have a notably stronger side, for United to be vulnerable and exposed. And yet when their moment came, they failed utterly.
Worse than that, they presented United with the points. Of all the indignities heaped on this Arsenal side in recent years, yesterday’s defeat ranks as one of the more significant. It is not that Arsenal were bad — going forward they were exceptional at times. Had they drawn this game 0-0, it would still have felt like a failure.
True, they raised some late hope when Olivier Giroud, back from injury, struck an exquisite volley in added time which ensured an entertaining final two minutes. Yet the fact that they could contrive to lose to such a weakened United side in a game they might have had wrapped up within 20 minutes was stupefying.
And their sheer absence of ruthlessness indicates just how fragile they have become, the result represented a predictable outcome for a mentally flawed team that has made losing games from dominant positions into something of an art form.
The opening exchanges were humiliating for United, an indication of how far they have fallen. You shuddered to think what great warriors of the past would have made of it. Roy Keane, for example, or Sir Alex Ferguson himself. United’s back three would surely not have survived a half-time team-talk from either.
It was Manchester United but not as we have come to know them over the past 20 years. Vulnerable, wounded, on the back foot, they looked a little pathetic, in the true sense of the word — and Arsenal smelled the weakness.
The team-sheets indicating a back three of Paddy McNair, Chris Smalling and Tyler Blackett was enough and, within 15 minutes, United had also lost Luke Shaw to injury. So Arsenal attacked like a team that knew they should be in the ascendancy. They have waited a long time to feel like that against United.
Arsenal were first to everything, Alexis Sanchez leading the way, playing with an intensity which was exhilarating. When he chased down Smalling in the fourth minute and almost bullied him off the ball, United were forewarned.
The chances then came in a flurry: a free header for Per Mertesacker from a corner; a header over from Danny Welbeck after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had chased down a ball to cross superbly; a shot from Jack Wilshere, after he drove through a vacant United midfield.
But pri nci pal l y there was Wilshere’s chance in the 15th minute, created by Sanchez chasing down David De Gea, whose weak clearance reached only Welbeck, who fed Wilshere. Charging through United’s defence again and this time less than six yards out with De Gea to beat, Wilshere hesitated before shooting into the United goalkeeper. It was a terrible miss.
And it proved significant for the half, as United began to settle. In the 30th minute, Wilshere butted his head into Marouane Fellaini’s chin — it is about as high as his forehead could reach — and was lucky to stay on the pitch, let alone not even receive a yellow card.
Angel Di Maria emerged from hibernation to curl a shot wide in the 36th minute and then to sprint away with the ball at his feet in invigorating fashion two minutes later and feed Wayne Rooney, whose shoot was deflected. United were suddenly on the offensive, forcing a series of corners. It was some turnaround. They had looked defenceless but, by the end of the first half, had rediscovered at least a degree of their true identity.
Arsenal, though, started the second half in a manner which suggested they intended to reassert their authority. Oxlade-Chamberlain in particular was finding his range, with a delightful ball with the outside of his foot in the 50th minute for Welbeck who, closing in on a narrow angle, again found his way blocked by De Gea.
Fellaini then did his reputation no favours, casually giving the ball away to Wilshere, who was only stopped by a terrible challenge from McNair, sliding in from the side to connect studs on ankle. It would be his last significant contribution, having to come off minutes later.
Yet Arsenal are always only a moment away from calamity. A
swirling cross from Ashley Young in the 58th minute was directed at a marginally offside Fellaini but the Belgian had no real need to challenge as Gibbs and Wojciech Szczesny got themselves in such a mess without him, colliding and knocking each other over. Gibbs seemed principally to blame and certainly was the culprit a moment later.
Antonio Valencia fired in a relatively harmless cross but Gibbs inexplicably lifted his leg while still grounded and had no control over the direction of his attempted clearance. With his goalkeeper still struggling, winded and injured, the ball diverted into his own net and United had an unlikely lead.
When they lost the ball on the edge of the United box in the 85th minute, Fellaini swept the ball to Di Maria, who advanced it to Rooney, who finished with a cool chip; his 11th goal against Arsenal — more than anyone else in Premier League history. He said: ‘It’s a very important victory. We weathered the storm at times. Then we knew we could hit them on the counter-attack, we knew they were vulnerable on the break.’
It might have been worse: Di Maria chipped the ball wide from another breakaway in the dying seconds when 3-0 seemed inevitable, before that late Giroud riposte.