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Published 18:35 22 Jan 2023 GMT
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Man United worked their way into the match and had a penalty claim when Bruno Fernandes collided with Aaron Ramsdale. The majority of play came down the far side of the pitch, with Gabriel Martinelli taking on Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Antony (unsuccessfully) running at Oleksandr Zinchenko.
In an evenly-matched game between two well-drilled teams, it took a moment of individual brilliance to open the scoring. Arsenal lost the ball to Rashford in midfield. The England forward passed into Fernandes and received the ball back before knocking it through Partey's legs. Rashford then hit a low, bouncing shot from 25 yards out that flew past Ramsdale and into the bottom corner.
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Arsenal, however, got back into the game soon after falling behind. Aaron Wan-Bissaka lost the ball and it led to a corner for the home team. From the resulting set-piece, Granit Xhaka floated a cross to the back post where Eddie Nketiah ran around the sleeping Wan-Bisska to score a header at the back post.
The Gunners deserved their goal and it was a well-worked move, but the equaliser was preventable from the away side's perspective. Wan-Bissaka, in particular, displayed poor quality on the ball and a lack of defensive awareness in the build-up to the goal.
"Considering we praise him saying he’s a good defender. This is big boy stuff, big moments. Do your job. Go and attack the ball," Roy Keane said about the defender at half-time on Sky Sports' coverage of the game.
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The second half at the Emirates started as the first half finished, in a frantic and entertaining fashion. Arsenal boss Arteta substituted Ben White for Takehiro Tomiyasu, as the defender had been booked in the first half.
The Gunners were clearly worried about Rashford running at White. On the other flank, Arteta's team didn't have any concerns as Zinchenko made light work of the ineffective Antony, who repeatedly failed to dribble past his opponent.
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Saka had no such trouble making an impact on the match. The England winger cut inside with the ball 25 yards out from goal and curled a wonderful low shot beyond the diving De Gea. It was Saka's third goal in his three games against the Red Devils.
Arsenal deserved to take the lead but United soon got back into the game. Ramsdale dropped the ball from a United corner and it bounced free in the penalty area.
Lisandro Martinez aimed a brilliant, stooping diving header that looped over the Arsenal defence and into the net. The Argentina defender showed great bravery to head the ball in the penalty area and scored his first goal for the Red Devils.
The match continued at a furious pace, with both sides having opportunities to win all three points. Arsenal piled the pressure on Man United, who were pushed deep and forced to try to play on the counter-attack.
De Gea didn't look comfortable on the ball throughout the match but redeemed himself with a brilliant, late reaction save from Nketiah's first-time shot.
Man United were playing so deep that Gary Neville, on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports, joked that the team were playing a 4-5-1 formation "in their own box" for the final few minutes.
Eventually, the pressure became too much, and Nketiah scored his second goal of the game to win the match in stoppage time.
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