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:
4Substitutes
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.