2 April 24, 2022The Sunday Times
Football Premier League
De Gea7Varane5
Dalot5
Te ll e s4Elanga7
Sancho5Lindelof5Ronaldo7McTominay6
Matic6Fernandes34-2-3-1Ramsdale6White5
Tavar e s5
Cedric4Smith Rowe5
Saka8Elneny6Nketiah7Gabriel5Odegaard8
Xhaka84-3-3Star man Granit Xhaka (Arsenal).
Substitutes: Arsenal G Martinelli (for Smith Rowe
64, 7), R Holding (for Saka 74), T Tomiyasu (for
Soares 90+1).
Man United M Rashford (for Matic 77), J Lingard
(for Elanga 77), J Mata (for Fernandes 84).
Referee C Pawson.
Attendance 60,223position, was blocking his view when
Xhaka scored.
Rangnick admitted that benching
Maguire did not improve United’s
defending. Their problems involved
scatty full-back play and sleepy centre
halves — but exactly the same could be
said of Arsenal. It seemed a contest of
back-four incompetence at times.
Who was dopier, Gabriel or Raphaël
Varane? Who was easiest meat for a
winger, Alex Telles or Soares?
Arsenal’s opener, arriving after 140
seconds, encapsulated the dynamics.
After a build-up involving Gabriel and
Tavares, Xhaka crossed and both Var-
ane and Telles missed the ball. Saka,
with that technical class and preco-
cious vision of his, bent a wonderful
shot towards a gap he spotted inside
the far post and De Gea stretched for
an exceptional save but Tavares, with
Diogo Dalot gawping rather than
tracking him, followed in to score
from close range.
Saka and Odegaard were the
orchestrators, and Xhaka the
prompter, of Arsenal’s sweet group
attacking. With Nketiah dropping into
deeper pockets intelligently, United
were often overrun in midfield — their
issues exacerbated by Fernandes’s
aversion to tracking back.
But United’s attacking was equally
good and Arsenal’s defending just as
flaky. Ronaldo released Elanga, with
Tavares out of position, and Elanga
strode into the area to force a good
save from Aaron Ramsdale. An
unmarked Scott McTominay headed
wide at the corner. Then Ramsdale
misdirected a pass that McTominay
intercepted before feeding Fernan-
des, whose shot was deflected. And
before long Dalot was given space to
advance and loop a shot on to the bar.
The next phase was all about Ode-
gaard. First the Norway captain, with
the cutest touch, guided the ball
behind an unbalanced United defence
to set up Nketiah, who shot powerfullyA
t what point did this match
peak, in terms of vindica-
tion, for Mikel Arteta? When
his young team proved their
growth by weathering an
improved Manchester
United and handling the
pressure that comes with
opportunity to finish with three points
and a return to the top four?
Or at the start of the game when
Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka
orchestrated the fast, clever and
youthful group attacking that he
wants to underpin his football? Or was
it in the 70th minute when Granit
Xhaka’s sweet torpedo of a shot rock-
eted into David de Gea’s rigging?
Xhaka is perhaps the player in
whom Arteta has invested the most
faith, sticking with the Switzerland
midfielder through troughs and mis-
haps, because of his ability when
given time on the ball. And at the vital
moment, United afforded him his
chance. Bruno Fernandes coughed up
possession on the edge of the penalty
area to give Xhaka leeway to line up
his shot.
Xhaka has scored more goals
against United (three) than he has
against any other team, all involving
strikes from outside the area. And this
effort capped a display that showed
Xhaka at his best: 66 of 69 passes com-
pleted, a high number of them pene-
trative, and a raft of good defensive
work. Yet another stat showed the rag-
ged side of his game — he was booked
for the 50th time in 183 Premier
League appearances.
In Fernandes, United have their
own often maddening maverick, and
his day was dismal. Handed the cap-
taincy by Ralf Rangnick, who dropped
Harry Maguire, Fernandes was all silly
Hollywood passing, lapses of concen-
tration, bad positioning, whines,
moans and petulant fouls.
Rangnick had to substitute him
after he risked a red card for a spiteful
challenge on Nuno Tavares and his
other low moment involved missing a
penalty, at 2-1, during a spell in which
United were dominating thanks to the
verve of a front three that was immeas-
urably better for the returns of Jadon
Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo. They
forced a spot kick when Tavares han-
dled under pressure when defending
a cross and the surprise was Fernan-
des — not Ronaldo — stepping up to
take it. After a stuttering, prancing
run-up, he fluffed the attempt, placing
his shot against a post.
Arsenal did well to emerge from
this torrid spell to come on strong
again, and seal things through Xhaka.
Rangnick was rightly piqued by some
of the officiating: in the first half, after
being turned and twisted by a drib-
bling Sancho, Cédric Soares stumbled
and handled the ball while trying to
break his fall — it was curious that the
VAR check did not lead to a penalty.
In the second half, Ronaldo
“scored” but was judged offside even
though the toe of Ben White’s right
boot appeared to be keeping him
onside. Rangnick questioned how the
VAR lines were drawn. There was a tug
on Anthony Elanga that could have
been a penalty and De Gea claimed
that Eddie Nketiah, from an offside
DAY OF SWEET
VINDICATION
FOR ARTETA
but straight at De Gea. Then Odegaard
came deep to find space on Arsenal’s
right and play upfield to Saka, who
returned him the ball.
As Saka attacked United’s area with
a intelligent diagonal run, Odegaard
fed a lovely pass into his path and,
caught on the wrong side of his oppo-
nent, Telles barged into Saka. Nketiah
steered home the loose ball only for
VAR to determine he was offside. But
Craig Pawson, the referee, was
encouraged to check Telles’s chal-
lenge on the pitchside monitor. The
outcome was the correct one: penalty
for Arsenal, booking for Telles. Saka
smashed home the spot kick.
Within two minutes United were
back in the game, ushered there by
more poor defending. Sancho played
back to Nemanja Matic, who crossed
smartly and Gabriel elected to just
stand and watch a master go about his
work, leaving Ronaldo to sweep a fine
finish past Ramsdale.
Before half-time, Ramsdale had to
spring and stop a Telles shot from
screaming into the top corner and De
Gea had to stretch and defy Odegaard.
United’s lifeline came and went with
Fernandes’s botched penalty, but
before Xhaka sealed things, Ramsdale
tipped a shot from Dalot on to a post.31
ARSENAL MAN UNITED
Tavares 3
Saka 32 (pen)
Xhaka 70Ronaldo 34JONATHAN
NORTHCROFTFootball Correspondent
At Emirates StadiumBruno Fernandes is the first
Manchester United player
to miss the target with two
penalties in a league
season since Teddy
2 Sheringham in 1997-98At 20 years and 230
days, Bukayo Saka is
the youngest player
in Premier League
history to score a penalty in
consecutive games20
No player has scored more
Premier League goals from
outside the box against Man
Utd than Granit Xhaka
(three, level with Steven Gerrard,
Les Ferdinand and Kevin Phillips)3
Benching Maguire
didn’t solve United’s
problems: scatty
full-back play and
sleepy centre backsYears since
United last lost
four away games
in a row in the top
flight. They have now conceded
in ten consecutive away games
across all competitions41