Arsenal lost 2-1 to Manchester United on Sunday, but the very young and inexperienced team can mostly hold their heads high after a fighting performance.

United fielded a near full strength side against the likes of 18-year-old Reiss Nelson, recent academy graduate Ainsley Maitland-Niles and debutant Konstantinos Mavropanos. It was always going to be an uphill battle, and so it proved with Paul Pogba’s early goal.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan, one of few experienced players, made his return from injury. He ended up grabbing an equaliser, and it was all the team deserved at the time. Unfortunately he then went off, rested for Thursday. United took back the momentum and in the end got the goal their pressure probably merited.

Still, it was harsh for the Gunners, particularly as the centre-back pairing had performed so well. Plus they perhaps should have had a penalty in the first half.

Here are the individual player ratings:

Defence

David Ospina 4

I don’t want to be too harsh on Ospina, but he didn’t make a single save and conceded two, so it’s hard to give him a higher rating than this. In all honesty there wasn’t much he could do about the goals, but he could have distributed the ball better. He didn’t inspire confidence throughout the match.

Hector Bellerin 7

Bellerin worked hard, defended well, and made an excellent block to stop Sanchez scoring against his old club. He was just unlucky it then fell to Pogba. The one blot for me is that he should’ve done better to play in Aubameyang in the first half, with his cross going straight into the keeper’s hands.

Konstantinos Mavropanos 8

What a debut for the young Greek centre-back, and how unfortunate it ended with a defeat. He looked strong and assured against very physical opposition, and got the better of Romelu Lukaku for the majority of the game. His passing was also excellent, with the best accuracy of the back-line.

Calum Chambers 7

Chambers also put in a very good performance that deserved more. He won all of his aerial duels, and made a huge number of tackles, clearances and interceptions. He wasn’t as impressive on the ball as Mavropanos, but was otherwise very good.

Sead Kolasinac 5

Kolasinac did fairly well off the ball, but couldn’t match that performance on it. He gave it away under little pressure on a couple of occasions, and didn’t quite look match sharp. Unfortunately that ended up leaving him with an injury, and he had to come off early.

Midfield

Granit Xhaka 5

I’m a Xhaka fan, and he’s played very well in recent weeks and months. However, he had a terrible first half, and could well have seen red. He also has to take his small share of the blame for the Manchester United goals. He can take some of the credit for the Arsenal one though, and he improved generally in the second half.

A mixed performance overall for the captain of the day.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles 8.5

The man-of-the-match despite Manchester United’s win, Maitland-Niles had an excellent game. His passing was on point, he made tackles, wriggled his way out of pressure from United’s physical midfield, and made a lovely chance for Mkhitaryan with a back-heel.

He snatched at his shot a little and was caught on the ball a couple of times, but otherwise performed fantastically. Really made a case to get this opportunity in the centre more often.

Alex Iwobi 6

Not a particularly inspiring performance from Iwobi, but not bad either. He mostly just linked up his teammates, but fought well enough when required. Just didn’t create enough to get a higher rating given his position.

Attack

Reiss Nelson 6

Nelson had the least possession of any of Arsenal’s outfield players, as he struggled to really get involved. He did have the highest pass accuracy on the team, and created one decent chance. His header was powerful but off target.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan 8

Mkhitaryan looked like he had a point to prove at Old Trafford, and he did it well. He was lively, he showed something Arsenal missed against Atletico with his link-up play, and he eventually got a goal to top off his efforts. Then he had to come off to preserve him for the trip to Madrid, and Arsenal suffered without him.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 5

Like Nelson, Aubameyang really struggled to get involved, and he could’ve done better with the chances he did have. Probably would’ve scored if Bellerin had managed to play him in on the counter, but only managed one shot other than that.

Substitutes

Danny Welbeck 7

Welbeck was the first to come on against his former club, and did well, particularly in winning as many tackles as anyone else in the entire 90 minutes (five). His passing wasn’t quite as impressive though. He hit a sweet shot at De Gea from range, but it was close enough to the keeper to be a straight-forward save.

Nacho Monreal 6

Monreal also did decently after coming on, but somehow wasn’t quite as involved in winning back the ball despite his more defensive position.

Joe Willock N/A

Willock only played a few minutes, not really enough to judge him on. I did enjoy his crunching tackle, which the TV commentators made note of.