Arsenal beat Manchester United 3-2 at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday night to maintain their 5-point lead at the top of the Premier League table.
Eddie Nketiah scored twice for the Gunners, including the stoppage-time winner to secure victory in what was a Premier League classic.
Rashford opens goalscorer
Marcus Rashford opened the evening’s scoring in the 17th with a sensational strike from 25 yards that left Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale defenseless at his near post. The England striker was outplayed by his teammate Brundo Fernandes, and the 25-year-old brought down Thomas Partey before unleashing his ferocious spike to give his team the lead.
Six minutes later, Nketiah restored equality for the hosts with a header that capped off a wonderful team move. Granit Xhaka struck her cross towards the far post after a good interplay between Martin Odegaard and Oleksandr Zinchenko that Nketiah nailed in emphatically.
Shortly after the restart, Arsenal took the lead in the 53rd minute thanks to a shout from Bukayo Saka. The England winger cut in from the left flank past Christian Eriksen before unleashing a low shot past David De Gea into the United goal.
Ramsdale held his side’s lead for two minutes when he pulled in an excellent save from Rashford, who once again cut in from the left to fire a low shot after dribbling past Takehiro Tomiyasu. However, it was United defender Lisandro MartÃnez who restored equality on 59 minutes with a diving header from an Eriksen corner. The World Cup winner brilliantly read the rebound from the loose ball to stretch his neck and lobbed his header over the line to make it 2-2 on the night.
late drama
After United’s equalizing goal it was all one-way traffic as Arsenal dominated proceedings in search of a winner. United barely left their area when Mikel Arteta’s team mounted attack after attack in the last 15 minutes.
De Gea denied Nketiah with a great save in the 84th minute, but the Arsenal striker finally netted the winner in the 91st minute with an unconventional volley.
VAR was sought to observe possible offsides during the build-up, but the goal stood to give the hosts an important three points.
United will be disappointed to go home with nothing to show for it and have failed to win any of their last 5 away games against Arsenal, losing four times and drawing once.
Eric ten Hag’s team ranks fourth in the standings with 39 points from 20 games, 11 points behind their hosts in the evening playing an extra game.
Photo Credit: IMAGO/Pro Sports Images
