Arsenal’s dreamy start to the Premier League came to an end on Sunday and with that, the hopes (of some very hopeful Arsenal fans) of another invincible run.
This leaves Man City and London rivals Tottenham the only undefeated teams in the league after six games.
The Gunners started the season in red hot form, winning five games out of five and scoring 13 goals in the process.
The team, full of youngsters, played fast and fluid football and was reminiscent of peak Wenger days.
Those five wins came against Fulham, Leicester, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Aston Villa.
All of these teams are in the bottom half of the league, except Fulham who is tenth. Manchester United was arguably the first proper test for the London side.
Regardless of the easy start, the Gunners were playing convincingly and Arteta’s coaching and game plans were on point.
Manchester United, on the other hand, were humbled by Brighton and Brentford but had been on the up since defeating Liverpool, Southampton and Leicester.
With new signing Antony, there was a general positivity around Old Trafford when the Reds from London rolled in.
Gabriel Martinelli’s goal was ruled out by VAR before United were put in front, credit to new signing Antony.
The Brazilian’s opener was cancelled out by Saka at the hour mark. Only six minutes later, Marcus Rashford put the Red Devils in front again before killing the game in the seventy-fifth minute.
United should have scored more but were wasteful, and fortunately, were not made to regret it.
The defeat says more about the manager than the players. Mikel Arteta made three changes after United’s second goal.
He put on Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira and Eddie Nketiah, replacing Zinchenko, Odegaard and Lokonga.
This is where Arteta panicked and went wrong. United’s third goal can be attributed to the tactical switch made by Arteta with these substitutions.
The other dugout, with Erik ten Hag, made much better substitutions that ultimately led to the creation of more chances and a victory.
The third goal was followed by Arteta burying his face in his hands.
This was incredibly similar to a pose Arteta made when he played for Arsenal and what is used for the “Forfeit Match” tile in the popular football video game FIFA.
Players usually only forfeit a FIFA match when they are losing badly and want the embarrassment to end.
While this match came nowhere close to embarrassing for Arsenal, Arteta must have felt guilty and ashamed for making those substitutions that eventually gifted the game to their opponents.
Arsenal played well and could have won on another day. Arteta must be hoping he can keep his head and not overthink tactics, something his mentor Pep Guardiola has been guilty of doing multiple times.
