Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Trossard, Saka, Havertz
Subs: Ramsdale, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Smith Rowe, Vieira, Jesus, Martinelli, Nketiah
Arsenal leapfrogged Manchester City to sit top of the Premier League table after beating Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford, thanks to a first half goal from Leandro Trossard.
Mikel Arteta named an unchanged side for the fourth consecutive game, with Takehiro Tomiyasu and Bukayo Saka both passing late fitness tests to start.
It was a dominant start from Arsenal who had United pinned in their own half, with Bukayo Saka testing Andre Onana early on after lovely work in tight spaces from Martin Odegaard.
But United did eventually get out and had a great chance to take the lead when Thomas Partey was caught on the ball in a dangerous position by Scott McTominay, before playing Rasmus Hojlund through on goal – who lost his footing and blasted over.
That opportunity seemed to kick the hosts into gear and there were two further shots in quick succession, first from Alejandro Garnacho and then from Diogo Dalot with Arsenal looking far from comfortable defensively.
However, Arteta’s men did settle and found themselves ahead after 20 minutes when Ben White played Kai Havertz in behind – who was left completely unmarked on the right wing – before finding Leandro Trossard in the middle whose sharp movement and finish typified a man in form. 1-0.
Everybody expected the offside flag to go up, although replays showed Casemiro was slow to push out and rejoin the defensive line, playing the German well onside.
The Gunners almost doubled their lead minutes later when Saka found White steaming forward on the overlap, but his drilled effort grazed the top of the crossbar with Onana beaten.
But instead of pushing to kill the game, Arsenal were uncharacteristically sloppy throughout the first half and fell below their usual standards – both in and out of possession – and struggled to sustain pressure despite the weakened opposition line up.
United weren’t exactly peppering David Raya or placing huge amounts of pressure on the back four, but having gone into half time ahead, Arteta would have wanted more from his team who were undoubtedly passive.
The second half followed a similar pattern with United controlling the ball without looking overly threatening but Arsenal couldn’t settle in possession, and kept giving the ball back to the hosts when it couldn’t stick with Havertz.
In the 55th minute, the Gunners finally sprung into gear and Declan Rice found himself unmarked on the edge of the area after typically neat triangles down the right hand side but his goalbound effort was blocked by Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
With 25 minutes to play, Arteta opted to bring Gabriel Martinelli on for goalscorer Trossard in hope of springing more threat in behind, but that did little to change the momentum of the game with Arsenal still sloppy in all phases.
Garnacho looked the hosts’ most dangerous player and continued to run at White, and had parts of the stadium celebrating prematurely after rifling a left footed strike into the side netting. Warning signs for the Gunners who were sleepwalking to victory at that point.
Arsenal did respond with chances of their own and tested Onana twice in quick succession, first a strong left hand was needed to stop Martinelli and then a more comfortable save to meet Rice’s curling effort from 20 yards.
As thunderstorms descended onto the Old Trafford pitch, Arteta brought on Jakub Kiwior and Jorginho to secure the result and secure they result they did – United were unable to create anything of note despite having more of the ball.
Despite the mixed performance, at this moment, two teams will be battling for title on the final day and all eyes will be on Manchester City (and Spurs!) this Tuesday.
That result means Arsenal have won a Premier League game at Old Trafford for just the second time in their last 17 away games, and it’s the first time they have done the league double against Manchester United since 2007.
It’s a huge achievement for Arteta and this young side to take the title to the final day after a taxing season. That’s all we could have asked.
