Timber and Saliba ruin the night for Red Devils at Emirates

Arsenal marked their 500th match at the Emirates Stadium with a 2-0 win against rivals Manchester United Wednesday night, picking up a fourth consecutive league victory against the Red Devils for the first time ever.

Following their resounding 4-0 home victory over Everton, Ruben Amorim surprisingly made six changes to the XI against an Arsenal side looking for a fourth consecutive win. And Mikel Arteta’s men had the ball in the back of the net inside four minutes after André Onana’s poor clearance led to Gabriel Martinelli firing home, but the goal was quickly ruled out for offside. Thomas Partey then missed a gilt-edged opportunity when he failed to get a clean connection to head in from a corner.

United soon grew into the contest and frustrated the hosts with tidy spells of possession, but never threatened David Raya in the Arsenal goal, with the visitors failing to have a touch inside the home side’s box in the opening 30 minutes. The Gunners continued to probe with their biggest threat coming set pieces, as this time Martinelli shot inches over when the Brazilian pounced on a loose ball in the box.

Arsenal started the second half brightly, coming out with renewed energy, and their persistent threat from set pieces eventually produced the opening goal within 10 minutes of the restart. Declan Rice’s corner kick was flicked in by the head of Jurrien Timber at the front post – the 21st goal the Gunners have scored from a corner since last season. This prompted Amorim to ring the changes as the Portuguese coach made a triple substitution, including Leny Yoro, who was making his competitive debut for the Red Devils.

Arsenal’s set-piece training was clearly paying off as another corner kick nearly produced a goal, yet Manuel Ugarte managed to head off the line after Joshua Zirkzee almost nodded into his own net. It took until the 67th minute for United to fashion their first effort on target, as Raya produced a brilliant outstretched save to deny Matthijs de Ligt. However, Arsenal foiled any United threat and doubled their lead from yet another dead ball. Bukayo Saka’s corner delivery to the far post was headed back into the danger area by Partey, finding its way over the line via William Saliba.

Despite Kai Havertz’s failure to add a third when slipped in, Arsenal coasted through the final quarter-hour with little threat from Amorim’s men, as the Portuguese suffers his first defeat as United coach. He won’t have to wait long until he can rectify that as United host Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Meanwhile, Arsenal close in on league leaders Liverpool, cutting the gap to seven points astheirunbeaten run at home reaches 13 games across all competitions (W11, D2).

Story: Flashscore

Flashscore Man of the Match: Thomas Partey (Arsenal)