Arsenal defeated Manchester United 2-0 on Sunday in a big result for the team’s top four hopes, particularly as it was the last big-six game of the season for Unai Emery’s side.
Match Recap
Arsenal started the day a point behind United, with the chance to overtake them whilst also gaining three points on Tottenham Hotspur, after Mauricio Pochettino’s side lost to Southampton. Plus, Chelsea dropped two points to Wolves earlier in the day, so it was a huge opportunity for the Gunners.
Thankfully, it was one they were ready to take. Granit Xhaka scored a swerving shot from range after just twelve minutes, and despite a number of chances for the away side, it was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who doubled Arsenal’s lead with a second-half penalty.
The three points leave Arsenal one behind Spurs, two ahead of Manchester United and three ahead of Chelsea having played a game more.
Let’s have a look at our player ratings for Sunday’s match.
Bernd Leno 8.5
Leno made four saves, which was four more than David De Gea managed at the other end. United pressed high and made it difficult to play out, but the 27-year-old still found some nice passes. The goalkeeper did particularly well in one-on-one situations, and he really seems to be coming into his own with Arsenal recently.
For the first time in a long time, it doesn’t feel like a guaranteed goal when an opposition striker runs clear of the defence. The crowd loved the German’s performance, chanting “Leno! Leno! Leno!” after every big save.
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Sokratis Papastathopoulos 8
After the disappointment of his midweek red card, Sokratis bounced back with a battling performance to help Arsenal keep a clean sheet against Manchester United. The defender won both of his attempted tackles, made four clearances and one interception as he limited the away side to just a few chances.
The Greek international’s work on the ball was very good as well, completing the second-highest percentage of passes of any of the Arsenal starters. Plus, he created one good chance.
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Laurent Koscielny 8
Koscielny had a very similar performance to Sokratis’. He made one tackle, made three clearances and won a couple of aerial duels, whilst also managing 82% pass accuracy (1% less than Sokratis) and creating one chance. Most impressively, he played on despite a bad cut to his leg.
It was a captain’s performance, setting an example for the rest of the team that they had to give everything to win the game.
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Nacho Monreal 7.5
Rounding out the Arsenal centre-back trio was Monreal, taking Shkodran Mustafi’s place. The Spaniard wasn’t quite as impressive as his defensive partners, but he did still have a very solid game. His defensive work was good, particularly in the air as he won the majority of his defensive aerial duels.
The 33-year-old also brought the ball forward well on a couple of occasions, which is something he’s more used to doing as a full-back. His passing wasn’t bad either, though not as accurate as Koscielny or Sokratis’.
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Ainsley Maitland-Niles 8.5
Defensively, Maitland-Niles had one of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt. Luke Shaw and Paul Pogba are both in great form, so the Arsenal academy graduate had his work cut out for him, but he dealt with the problem excellently.
No one on either team made more interceptions than Maitland-Niles (five), and Ramsey was the only Arsenal player to make more tackles than the wing-back’s four. The 21-year-old was also positive and forward-thinking when he won the ball.
Unai Emery has struggled with this position since Hector Bellerin’s injury, so it would be great if Maitland-Niles could show this kind of form consistently for the remainder of the season.
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Aaron Ramsey 8
Ramsey put in a hugely disciplined and hard-working performance, making eight tackles and an interception to break up a number of Manchester United counter-attacks. Having said that, he could’ve done more in possession, with the second-lowest pass accuracy of any outfield player and no chances created.
Nonetheless, with Lucas Torreira out, the emphasis was certainly on Ramsey’s defensive duties. From that point of view, it was a top showing.
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Granit Xhaka 9
Xhaka scored a swerving effort early on, and it was smart to take advantage of the windy conditions before David De Gea got used to them. He saw another shot go narrowly wide, and he created a couple of good chances, as well as making a couple of interceptions.
The midfielder controlled the game and won the individual battles against his opposite numbers in Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba. The 26-year-old is also getting better at making clever fouls that break up the play without leaving him with a booking. He made three without a yellow on Sunday, which certainly helped Arsenal out.
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Sead Kolasinac 7.5
Kolasinac undeniably gave everything to his performance, even appearing to throw up at one stage in the match. Though pushing yourself that far isn’t advisable, at least there’s no doubt about his application.
The 25-year-old didn’t create as much as he usually does, failing to make a single key pass, but he was still involved in quite a few good moves going forward. In particular, he almost found Alexandre Lacazette with a nice early cross in the opening minutes. He didn’t contribute quite so much defensively, but he did enough.
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Mesut Özil 8
Özil was far better than any of his teammates at finding a pass, completing 91% of his attempts, all three of his long-balls, and creating a game-high four chances. He was also dispossessed a couple of times though, and he didn’t win many individual duels.
That’s not what he’s in the team to do, and on another day one of the chances he made would have been converted into an assist. The important thing is he keeps making them.
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Alexandre Lacazette 8.5
Lacazette had an excellent performance but just couldn’t quite find the goal to top it all off. He provided a (relatively straightforward) assist early on and completed some nice dribbles throughout the match. He also had a grand total of five shots, but just couldn’t find the target. He’s now directly contributed to 10 goals against the big six with Arsenal.
In the second half, he won a penalty to make it 2-0, and he sportingly gave it up to Aubameyang so his strike partner could rediscover his confidence after the miss against Tottenham Hotspur.
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Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang 8
Aubameyang didn’t have a huge impact on the game before his goal, but the penalty was certainly the moment the entire match could have turned on. It showed fantastic strength of character for him to step up after last week’s miss and send De Gea the wrong way, and that’s exactly what he did.
The striker did have three other shots, but none of them were close to going in. He also struggled to link up with teammates, completing just 54% of his passes. Nonetheless, he was up to the task when it mattered.
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Substitute 1 – Alex Iwobi 7
Emery waited until very late on to make his substitutions this time, so even as the first to come on Iwobi still only got marginally over 13 minutes of playing time. He completed a nice dribble and made some good runs off the ball but was also dispossessed a couple of times and only completed two of his four passes.
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Substitute 2 – Denis Suarez 7.5
A few minutes after Iwobi, Suarez joined the action and had a few of his best moments for Arsenal so far. He made a couple of positive and exciting runs forward, completed all of his passes and won a free-kick in his brief cameo appearance. If nothing else, that took the pressure off the defenders a bit.
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Substitute 3 – Eddie Nketiah 7
Nketiah played the final four minutes, winning one tackle, one free-kick and two individual duels. He also tried a nice through ball to Iwobi which didn’t quite come off.
It was nice to see the 19-year-old finally returning to the pitch after 10 Premier League appearances on the bench without coming on since his last substitute showing. Perhaps he’ll get another chance against Rennes, with Lacazette still suspended.