Arsenal 3-1 Manchester United: Premier League – live reaction | premier league

It will be a few days before United consider the positives, but they were pretty good in the second half – certainly compared to their other away performances in big games – and Rasmus Hojlund was truly impressive. Everything will be fine, even if the injured list becomes a big problem.

The result puts Arsenal in fifth place, two points behind Manchester City. They will take advantage of it before the international break, especially after such a resounding victory.

Declan Rice has a big silly grin on his face as Ice, Ice Baby screams at the tannoy. As it turns out, Arsenal’s 2023-24 season started in the 96th minute of their fourth game, when they forced the ball past Jonny Evans and Andre Onana.

It was an intriguing, multi-faceted game that exploded in injury time. Arsenal fans and players are all full of life, and they are right too. You can also understand why United look so inconsolable as they leave the pitch. They were probably the better team in the second half and were denied an 88th-minute goal by Alejandro Garnacho for a tight Spandex offside.

Afterwards, a draw would have hurt. A 3-1 loss is devastating.

“Rice, baby Rice and the angel Gabriel stole it to the end” says Peter Drury on Sky Sports. “That’s what you pay a lot of money for.”

Full time: Arsenal 3-1 Manchester United

It was a beautifully scored goal at the break. Fabio Vieira, who had eight very good days, went wild on the left and slid the ball towards Jesus just after the halfway line. He ran to the end of the box, calmly sat Dalot down and passed the ball nonchalantly past Onana.

AIM! Arsenal 3-1 Man Utd (Jesus 90+11)

90+8 minutes Jorginho replaces Martin Odegaard.

90+7 minutes Evans thought he was blocked by Gabriel Jesus but there is no question of VAR control.

Rice celebrates in front of an adoring crowd after a while he will remember it forever. Saka’s very deep corner hit him beyond the far post, unmarked. He sent the ball down, pivoted and fired a why not shot that deflected Evans and went through the hand of diver Onana at the near post. It may have hit the inside of the post as well. The deviation made the task extremely difficult.

AIM! Arsenal 2-1 Man Utd (Rice 90+6)

90+6 minutes Odegaard’s 25-yarder takes a light touch and flies over the bar for an Arsenal corner on the right. Saka will take it.

90+5 minutes Lots of pressure on Arsenal now. It is a frantic and desperate situation on both sides.

90+4 minutes Arsenal continue to run the ball from side to side, although it is now Tomiyasu rather than Zinchenko alongside Rice.

90+2 minutes Hojlund was excellent. He clearly loves a fight and opened up the pitch with a couple of deft touches, including in the build-up to Garnacho’s disallowed goal.

90 minutes There will be eight minutes additional time. Reiss Nelson replaced Gabriel Martinelli, and Gabriel Jesus was booked for dissent after the goal which was not.

WITHOUT ANY GOAL! Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd

VAR CHECK OFFSIDE! Hojlund’s nice shot down the halfway line freed Casemiro. He slipped a nice early pass to Garnacho, who was too fast for Saliba and finished clinically from the edge of the area. It is SO tight.

AIM! Arsenal 1-2 Man Utd (Garnacho 88)

87 minutes Casemiro makes a nice pass into the inside right channel to release Hojlund. It crosses the area, crosses Gabriel, then passes beyond it. No penalties, and nothing from VAR. Gabriel leaned towards him but that was it.

86 minutes Saka runs into the box, on a return pass from Odegaard, but Dalot comes between him and the ball and Evans clears.

86 minutes Another mediocre corner from Martinelli – some of his play was not exceptional – is captured at the near post by Fernandes.

85 minutes Rashford is also passed on the right wing. The other starting left winger, the remarkable Martinelli, forced Wan-Bissaka to concede yet another corner. It is the best individual competition of the game.

84 minutes: replacement for Man Utd Alejandro Garnacho and Jonny Evans replace Antony, who has worked very hard defensively, and Victor Lindelof, who has also worked very hard defensively. Is he hurt too?!

83 minutes Alejandro Garnacho is about to come on. He’s perfect for a situation like this, although he and Rashford are both on the left, so it will be interesting to see how it works out.

81 min: Good luck for Saka! Martinelli abracadabras between Antony and Fernandes and rushes the ball into the field. It’s worked to the right, where White (I think) slips a low cross in the middle. Jesus misses him but he reaches Saka, who passes directly on Onana from 10 meters with his left foot. Onana instinctively pushed him away.

Saka had moved to the left, which is why he was at the far post on a cross from the right. It was a tremendous opportunity.

80 minutes Diogo Dalot had an outstanding game at left-back against Bukayo Saka. So far.

78 minutes Eriksen frees Rashford in plenty of space down the left. He has support from Hojlund and Eriksen, but their races aren’t great so Rashford decides to go on his own. He rushes into the crowd and his shot is blocked.

77 minutes Fernandes passes Rashford, who sees the ball a lot now. He enters the area and tries to beat White with a rubber band; White reads it and intercepts it.

77 minutes: Triple substitution for Arsenal Gabriel Jesus, Fabio Vieira – who was very good last week – and Takehiro Tomiyasu replace Eddie Nketiah, Kai Havertz and Oleksandr Zinchenko.

75 minutes It’s the best spell of the game for United. Yes I know.

74 minutes Hojlund gets back on Gabriel, Mark Hughes style, to control a high and a low and deftly pass it to the corner of Fernandes. He beats a man and gives it to Rashford, whose shot deflects wide at the Whites.

74 minutes As far as 1-1 draws go, it’s not quite February 17, 1999, but it’s a pretty engaging game nonetheless. And I don’t think it will end 1-1.

72 minutes Rashford beats White in thrilling signature fashion – slow, slow, seeya – and fires the ball back towards Hojlund at the near post. Gabriel stays in Hojlund’s personal space and blocks his improvised shot.

71 minutes Hojlund gets angry. He has already had a few wrestling matches with Gabriel, the second of which resulted in a free-kick for Arsenal.

70 minutes “Once the dive is considered a dive, the play stops,” explains Bruce Jackson. “If there’s a kick, a handball, whatever afterwards, it doesn’t matter.”

69 minutes Onana is cautioned for wasting time on the resulting goal kick. There’s a suggestion he wasn’t happy with Maguire for not taking an angle, although we didn’t see a replay.

68 min: Right next to Martinelli! Arsenal takes a small corner on the right. Saka sends it invitingly back to Martinelli, who rounds the ball, on the edge of the D, and sends a curler for the first time just wide of the right post.

67 mins: Man Utd replacement, part 2 There are sarcastic cheers as Maguire replaces Martinez.

67 minutes: replacement of Man Utd – Rasmus Hojlund arrives on his Manchester United debut. He replaces Anthony Martial, who improved after a quiet first half.