Another home game, another two points dropped. Manchester United still managed to only draw against a very poor Arsenal side despite putting in one of their best performance.
With Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba playing as the trio in midfield, José Mourinho’s men started and ended the first half well, controlling proceedings and were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty by referee Andre Marriner when Antonio Valencia was hauled down by Nacho Monreal towards the latter stages of the half.
United continued their fine performance and got the goal they deserved. Some good link-up play between Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera saw the Spaniard receive the ball on the right wing and the ball was crossed into an onrushing Juan Mata, who made no mistake and drove the ball into the bottom corner.
However, the Reds were made to pay for sitting back at the end of the game and Arsene Wenger’s side got themselves an undeserved equaliser. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain beat Marcus Rashford easily on the wing and floated the ball onto the head of Olivier Giroud, who headed past David de Gea with just a minute of normal time remaining.
Dropped points for United sees them fall further off the pace in the Premier League and it’s looking more and more like the Reds will only be contending for a place in the top four this season. Here are the ratings from Old Trafford:
