Arsenal’s rivalry with Manchester United, again on Sunday’s Premier League’s match came alive at the Emirates stadium.
The 101+ minutes, exciting encounter had a defining Declan Rice’s stoppage-time goal which the match another memorable encounter.
Analysts after the match remarked that these are the moments Declan Rice came to Arsenal for and his first goal for the club could not come at a better time.
The emotion shown in his celebrations with the fans in the North Bank is just what he deserved for his first block of games in a red shirt. So often he has helped Arsenal ‘live’ throughout games and this was the best example, even before he scored the winner.
“The 24-year-old seemed to have a decent reading of what was needed in the game too. Whenever Manchester United seemed to have more promising passing periods, if he won the ball, he would pass to take the sting out of the game and help Arsenal reset. If he needed to drive forward with the ball, he had no problem doing that, either” an Athletic reporter wrote.
Earlier in the second half, Kai Havertz’s fall in the box looked certain to be a penalty in real time, but a VAR check showed the German to be the one to kick out himself to seek the contact and go down. A quick check of the monitor by Anthony Taylor saw the decision reversed.
The first goal of the encounter by Marcus Rashford in the 27th minute came due to an error from Kai Havertz. Christian Eriksen got the ball to Rashford in the left channel, before the forward drove into the box and bent a shot into the bottom right-hand corner.
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It was a goal largely out of nothing Rashford had touched the ball just five times before scoring this goal.
However, Martin Odegaard’s equalizer came just a minute after this, creating a relief from the Rashford’s goal.
Analysts think Havertz is still luckless.
Mikel Arteta has done what any good manager would do and defended his player when pressed on Havertz’s not so impressive start at Arsenal.
“I think he’s done already really good things,” Arteta said after their 2-2 draw with Fulham last week. “Today, it was tough in certain moments. He got in great areas and the ball didn’t arrive. In a lot of situations, he should have scored a lot of goals already this season. That’s the thing that is missing there.”
There are obviously some positives in his play, but clearly Havertz has yet to ignite his Arsenal career since joining this summer.
On the side of the Red devils, Andre Onana has truly changed their approach in possession.
Onana’s influence over the Manchester United side was evident against Arsenal during the match.
It is not surprising that we have seen this approach from United since Onana arrived, but future opponents might want to follow the blueprint that Arsenal set, which is to not fall into the trap of pressing Onana and losing their structure.
In the larger picture, Mikel Arteter’s team was today marvelously dazzling with a solid back brought about by the return of Gabriel and Zinchenko whose pair functioned effortlessly and efficiently.
Gabriel Jesus sent in the icing on the cake of Declan Rice’s winner on the 90+11 minutes mark.
