Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s 100th match in charge of Manchester United ended in a defeat after a lacklustre performance against a dominate Arsenal force.
United saw their 6th straight match without a win in the Premier League at home while Arteta’s men enjoyed their first win away to the “Big Six” in 29 attempts. Their previous win was back in 2015 when they beat United’s neighbours in baby blue 0-2.
In the opening 10 minutes, only 12,8% of the match was played in Arsenal’s defensive final third compared to 43,3% in the Red Devils’.
The half followed in a similar fashion as Manchester United completed their worse opening 45 minutes since 2015 in terms of chances created and shots on target.
Arsenal conquered the midfield battle as Thomas Partey and Mohammed Elneny completed the most dominant midfield performance shown by either side in recent fixtures.
Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba were almost invisible in the first half, only managing one chance created each. However, this was only the tip of the iceberg for Pogba as he committed an unnecessary foul on Hector Bellerin in the 69th minute to give Arsenal a penalty.
Aubameyang put away the chance comfortably, giving him his first goal in 6 matches for the club, his worst run since 2014 for BVB.
Although Arsenal put in a massive shift in comparison to their recent Premier League matches, they still struggled to be clinical in the final third, managing only 2 shots on target.
This indicates that Arteta’s squad is still far from complete and the remoulding of the North London club is still in progress.
Special praise to players like Elneny and Lacazette, who put in the hard yards behind the scenes to clinch the vital win for their club. Notably, no player had put in more ball recoveries (9), tackles made (4) or created more chances (2) than Lacazette during his time on the pitch.
Both managers had a series of questions about their club that needed answers. Arteta has silenced his critics until the next fixture, however, Ole sees his position at the wheel under a growing amount of pressure. Recent European success might not be enough as United find themselves 15th after their first 6 in the premier league.