United swept Manchester City aside last weekend, and had a full week to prepare for their visit to Emirates Stadium; whereas Arsenal, still very much involved in a four-pronged trophy attack, were in Champions League action in Milan in midweek. Not that I - or anybody - should be using that as an excuse for what transpired on Sunday. Let's get into it:
Four changes from the previous weekend for Arteta. Hincapie fit and straight back into the side, with Ben White dropping to the bench. At the other end of the pitch, Gabriel Jesus's double at the San Siro saw him favoured to start over Gyokeres. Personally, I disagreed with the latter decision; and we'll get on to that. Saka and Trossard unsurprisingly back in for Madueke and Martinelli.
No Calafiori yet. Nwaneri off on loan to Marseille; and already making his mark by the way - I'll discuss that later on. And of more concern no sign of Kai Havertz - the rumours of a setback in his recovery are clearly correct. And that is of great concern.
The game started as we expected, with Arsenal dominating possession; but creating virtually nothing. It was noticeable how far up the pitch Saliba was getting, as he seemed to be designated as the tracker for Bruno Fernandes (he of the most punchable face in the Premier League; although he is closely matched in that by Richarlison and Cuccurella). Arteta had clearly taken note of the damage the Portuguese had wrought in the number 10 role last week, and was looking to deny him the space to repeat the feat. What was also notable to me was that a) Trossard didn't appear to be trusting Hincapie too much - he was constantly overlapping yet being ignored, and b) how difficult it was proving to find Gabriel Jesus unless he came short for the ball. In truth Jesus did very little the whole game - possibly, ironically, until the last 60 seconds before he was replaced by Gyokeres very early in the second half.
The Arsenal players' reluctance to pull the trigger from distance has been infuriating me for years now. Once or twice, players had that opportunity but chose to pass, pass, pass. These intricate moves look great when they pay off, but with opponents sitting so deep surely other variations are called for?
It took until the 18th minute for Arsenal to finally get an effort on target. Perhaps inevitably, from a dead ball situation; Rice's free kick headed straight at Lammens by Zubimendi from 6 yards out. Anywhere but there, Zubi.
More pointless possession followed. The Arc of Doom, as the ball went from side to side, with little movement up front and Arsenal choosing to recycle to the wingers again and again. Look, it's hard work to find a creative spark when there's little or no space to work in. But surely they should be able to come up with something different? Until - finally - a breakthrough on 29 minutes. And Arsenal's leading striker Own Goal struck again; Saka's scoop found Odegaard, his sliced effort found its way through to Timber - marked by Martinez just a few yards out. Timber missed the ball, as did the defender; but it hit the latter's heel and trickled into the net. Probably deserved; but it had been hard work, and a pretty terrible watch, frankly, up to that point. Saka - giving Luke Shaw a real workout on the right - was as is often the case the brightest spark and the most likely source of excitement.
Now, you'd think that from that point Arsenal would have killed the game. They never lose when they score first, do they? They don't lose at home either. And United had offered nothing up to that point. But the atmosphere was very strange. The team were failing to rouse the crowd, and the latter were exhibiting their nerves. After two successive goalless draws, and very little excitement being served up, it all felt like a bit of a chore to support the team. The players looked as nervous, frankly, as we felt.
United were finally galvanised by the concession of the goal. As we saw last week, they are a massive threat on the break, with a very pacy forward line and in Fernandes one of the top players in the league. The latter's presence caused Saliba some panic, and a desperate lunge from the Frenchman prevented a clear shooting opportunity for the United captain. Not long after, Arsenal didn't so much shoot themselves in the foot as stab themselves in the heart.
When you choose to play out from the back time after time after time, it is inevitable that you are going to occasionally get caught out. United's press is pretty good, and this wasn't the game to continually try to be cute. Especially with people not showing for the ball in crucial moments.
A huge mix-up between Saliba and Zubimendi - the latter caught off balance as he received the ball and looked to pass back to Raya - let Mbuemo in. Not the type of player to leave one on one with one's goalkeeper, as he is as cool as a cucumber in front of goal. He is left-footed, so Raya anticipated him taking the ball that way. But he feinted, went to his right, and passed the ball into the empty net ;despite a desperate lunge from Gabriel. A body blow - to have had to work so hard to break United down, and then concede just 10 minutes later... both players and crowd were utterly deflated.
A disastrous error, for sure, but Arsenal had been showing their nerves from the moment they took the lead. It all felt very strange. And here's the thing - we're only in January, and there's a long, long way to go. If the players are feeling the nerves now and transmitting that to the crowd - then we're in for an agonising few months of incessant grind. It feels to me that the Manager needs to find some other ways of taking the game to the opposition, as so much if it is telegraphed and everyone is wise to it.
So 1-1 at half-time; and I half-expected a change in personnel at the break. Gyokeres for Jesus looked obvious, and Odegaard had been extremely subdued. Perhaps it was time for Eze to make his mark.
Talking of which, it didn't take long for Ethan Nwaneri to make his in Marseille. A trademark goal as early as the 13th minute as the home side crushed leaders Lens. As I mentioned as soon as the Eze signing went through, Nwaneri was likely to suffer most for lack of game time as a result; so it's probably right for him to have been allowed to develop elsewhere for a few months. But I can't help but feel that Arteta has abandoned him - not given him game time even when he had the chance to do so. He offers something different - a certain 'je ne sais quoi' that others don't have. He is something of a Saka/Odegaard hybrid, and there have been times when we could have done with him. Forget age and seniority. If you're good enough, then you're old enough.
I know that it would have been difficult to turn the opportunity to sign Eze down, but the latter hasn't exactly set the world on fire yet (apart from against a puny Tottenham). And so - with no Nwaneri to call upon now - it is surely time to unleash Eze and see what he's got. Odegaard's purple patch was quite short-lived, was it not; and he was virtually anonymous (one exquisite pass notwithstanding) in this game. Time for change? I think so.
No half-time changes. Much to my disappointment. Nonetheless, Arsenal have been very good at the start of second halfs all season. Arteta's tactical tweaks have often paid dividends. But this time United started the second period the better. 5 minutes into the second period, the away side moved the ball at a speed at which I'm sure we'd love to see Arsenal do, as an exchange of short passes from Dorgu and Fernandes cut through the Arsenal midfield like a hot knife through butter. Loads for Dorgu to do, nonetheless, as he had an opportunity to have a hit from 25 yards. And... crash! Caught perfectly on the half volley, and past Raya and off the underside of the bar - all in a flash. No keeper would be saving that; and all anyone could say was Wow.
There was a VAR check for a possible handball by the goalscorer but it would have been harsh to deny him to tiniest of contacts with his hand. You shouldn't be ruling strikes like that out on a technicality.
Arteta had obviously seen enough to make changes. To be honest, he could have chosen almost anybody to haul off; so much were United in the ascendancy. A quadruple change was nevertheless something of a shock. And a message; possibly of things to come. Off came Hincapie (just back from injury to be fair), the disappointing Odegaard, a somewhat flat Zubimendi and - inevitably - Gabriel Jesus. White, Merino, Eze and Gyokeres on in their places. But things didn't really improve. Gyokeres at least put himself about a bit, but there was little urgency in Eze's performance, and of the 4 new men Merino looked to have the most impact to me. But Arsenal were, at least, starting to apply some pressure.
Carrick wasn't sitting on his laurels, however, and Mbuemo made way for Cunha. Hardly a defensive move. The threat on the break remained very much there. But Arsenal did start to pin United back; all the while looking laboured and short of ideas. There was one moment of slight controversy when Maguire - who had a really solid game, and is much-maligned in my opinion - handled a shot from Merino from the edge of the penalty area. However, he was falling over at the time, and those don't get given. Arsenal could hardly claim being hard done by when you consider the penalty Liverpool didn't get when Martin Odegaard did something similar at Anfield a couple of years ago. No complaints from me.
As the game moved into the final 10 minutes, Arsenal became more frantic, but there was little method to their play. Madueke on for Trossard, with Saka switching to the left. Bukayo Saka looked the most likely to make something happen, and he did force a good low save from Lammens from a cleverly disguised low shot. Pretty much the only difficult thing the goalkeeper had had to do all game. Madueke’s performance was summed up in one moment, as he beat his man with ease; only for a heavy touch to knock the ball over the bye-line when it would have been considerably easier to get a cross in.
If the home side were ever to equalise, a dead ball situation looked the most likely route. And Merino managed to level things up following a Saka corner and a melee in which Lammens found himself stranded in no man's land in the 6-yard box. Finally, the crowd had something to shout about, and actually smelt Mancunian blood!
But not for long. If Dorgu's goal was spectacular, Cunha's winner was more calculated and frankly brilliant, as he cut in from the left of midfield and hammered the ball into the far corner of Raya's net. Another shot that the goalkeeper could do nothing about. Magnificent, and frankly no more than United deserved. Nobody got near him. Rice was bypassed in the run, and Merino and Eze were ahead of the ball. Another excellent finish.
So... defeat. And an ugly one at that. It's hard to imagine that a team clear at the top of the table, at the top of the Champions League table, into the 4th round of the FA Cup and with one foot into the Carabao Cup Final could look so short of confidence and ideas. Kudos to United, who have had two incredible results in the space of a week, but simply not good enough from Arsenal. It does feel to me that things are a little too predictable, and that the manager needs to shake things up a bit. There's no reason why he shouldn't try this, as Arsenal remain 4 points ahead of City and Villa and have a reasonably favourable run of fixtures now.
For me, Arteta's obsession with 'control' makes Arsenal extremely predictable at times. One way of playing; get it out wide and see the full back 'underlap'. Not enough pace to their game, and they are yet to adapt to Gyokeres (some would say and vice versa). I remember watching Liverpool last season and noting how Slot was prepared to cede the ball at times in order to force turnovers and hit the opposition on the break. For me, there's no harm in this, as the defence are the best around (normally; one may agree to disagree after this match) and they need to pose a different threat to Premier League opposition. They have been winning matches through simply having better players; and also though the effectiveness of their dead ball planning. Is that sustainable? I doubt it; everything gets found out eventually in this league.
In Europe, it's a little different. Teams do get more space in which to play, and Arsenal have taken advantage of that with statement wins this year over Athletico Madrid, Bayern Munich and - just this week - Inter Milan. There remains the formality of a win over the worst team in the competition on Wednesday to secure a crucial Top 2 spot. But nothing can be more certain than if Arsenal want to go far in that competition they are going to have to play at least one - and possibly two - Premier League teams on the way to Budapest.
Elland Road on Saturday is a tricky enough fixture to follow. But Arsenal should go there with little fear. Especially if the home side, roared on by their crowd, come out to play. I remain confident enough that Arsenal have enough to win the title, but they need to banish their demons, start playing with more pace and confidence, and put this result firmly behind them.
Additionally, we could do with Calafiori returning to fitness. And some clarity on Kai Havertz would be helpful.
Let's see what magic the manager can conjure up this week. COYG!
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