Key events
58 min: Did Merino deliberately stand on Garnacho? It looked that way. VAR doesn’t bother looking at it.
57 min: Some hurried United defending as Arsenal attempt to pass through them. Raya is at the halfway line. Everyone is back for United. It’s a long time to defend so deep.
56 min: United are getting more confident in attack. Arteta is getting ready to make changes. Big roars from the home fans as De Ligt crunches Merino.
54 min: Close! Zirkzee shrugs off Saliba, Dalot plays it to Mazraoui, whose volley is well saved by Raya. That could be a crucial moment.
52 min: Zirkzee clears the latest corner, Calafiori attacking the ball as he did so.
50 min: A flurry of Arsenal chances. Odegaard from distance, and Onana is ruled to have palmed over. Then Rice gets a swing at a volley, a decent chance. Arsenal resume their corners at the United end.
49 min: Will United fans regale Ayden Heaven to either of these songs?
Or the Roses’ Breaking Into Heaven?
47 min: The free-kick’s wall was 11.2m, according to Sky’s boffins. Meanwhile, Mazraoui goes on a burst and Arsenal have to clear. United are targeting that right-hand side. Garnacho goes on a dribble. He’s having Calafiori on toast, which sounds like a rather nice dish, an entree, perhaps.
Back underway at Old Trafford
46 min: And there’s been a change. Leny Yoro was too sick to continue and Ayden Heaven is on.
Crispin gets in touch from LA: “Disagree that Raya had no chance. He set the wall badly, invited the right footer to curl it into the empty space and then was nowhere close to saving it when Bruno hit the obvious spot. It wasn’t even right in the corner.”
So, perhaps he gave himself no chance.
Joe Pearson: “About Nicolas Jover’s waning efficacy: the rest of the league has had 28 matches (and more) of tape to watch. Just sayin’”
I saw Austin McPhee draw a blank yesterday at Brentford, too. Is it the end for set-piece experts? Gone the way of chimney sweeps?
Chris Finnegan: “You’ve nailed it with this Arsenal strip. After my star-crossed wedding we had three tables in the pub: my mates on ‘Highbury’, hers on ‘Highfield Road’, and us in the middle, dubbed ‘Wembley, 16 May 1987’. “‘Gary Mabbutt’s Left Knee’ had been mooted but ultimately deemed ‘open to deliberate misinterpretation’. “
Pete Smith: “Regarding the farting around at corners, if a goalie holding the ball for 8 seconds results in a corner, then will excessive farting around at corners result in a goal kick? Or does the world continue to be massively biased against defenders?”
The rest of you have spent your time with the Stone Roses’ rather thin back catalogue. If only they had made that album in 1990 rather than wait for the Second Coming. (Bought on the day it came out, not played at all these days.)
Tim Woods: “If Amorim is looking for his own Stone Roses song, I’d suggest How Do You Sleep?. For ABUs of a certain age, I’d suggest United’s current team fits with What The Worlds Been Waiting For (which is also a cracking tune).”
Sean Kane: “What about ‘Tightrope’? Would seem to have foreseen the current United set-up. Are we etched in stone or just scratched in the sand Waiting for the waves to come and …..? Alternatively from the same era (and a comparatively excellent band): Suede – The Drowners!!”
About 35 mentions of “Going Down”, too.
Ollie gets in touch: “As a German, this match really motivates me to practice my English grammar. So let me try: drab, drabberer, drabberest – right?”
Half-time: Manchester United 1-0 Arsenal
The half closes with United on a promising attack. From going nowhere, United got somewhere, and Bruno Fernandes struck. Arsenal’s dominance drew a blank and Calafiori’s struggles with Garnacho were an achilles heel.
45+3 min: Nicolas Jover, head in hands? The wall offered Bruno where to shoot and he hit it up and over, and into the net. Raya had no chance.
Goal! Manchester United 1-0 Arsenal (Fernandes, 45+2)
It’s a beauty! What a free-kick.
45+1 min: Booking for Trossard, sold short by Calafiori letting go of Garnacho. Free-kick outside the Arsenal box.
45 min: A dazed Zirkzee leaves the field. Tell him he’s Ruud? He comes back on again. Four minutes added on.
43 min: Partey clatters Zirkzee, and there’s a break in play. Amorim is issuing instructions and he has a big smile on his face. He often does. He has a sunny disposition considering he is in charge of football’s biggest doom factory.
42 min: The Arsenal fans targeting referee Anthony Taylor, Altrincham’s most famous supporter. Why? Who knows? Previous case history?
40 min: Nwaneri is offside. Arsenal are slower than they were in previous seasons. Perhaps that’s to conserve energy but they were prettier on the eye in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
39 min: Arsenal have had 70% of the ball. They’re still level with this toiling United fun bus.
37 min: Nwaneri has been quiet but comes to the fore. Zirkzee, yet quieter, is muscled out by Saliba. The ball just won’t stick for United. They are getting hurried along in defence, too.
36 min: Home fans groan as their team deliberates on the attack. Merino finds Odegaard, whose shot is blocked. Now there’s boos as Dalot takes his time over a throw.
34 min: A glimmer for United as Fernandes and Eriksen exchange passes. Zirkzee seemed to be looking in the opposite direction. Trossard then gets another sighter. Game opening up?
33 min: The Arsenal fans are taunting Onana on the ball. That can’t be helping his nerves. There’s some of the “woaaaaaahh, you’re [expletive] ah” going on, too. Old school. Are they bored?
31 min: Trossard surges on and shoots, but wide.
29 min: Timber on the overlap, but ends up fouling De Ligt. United try to press Arsenal but that falls short when Casemiro can’t keep his end up. Arsenal go on the attack but are again wasteful. Going to pieces in the box.
28 min: Trossard wins a corner. A lot of farting around ensues. And Onana collects. Arsenal’s potency at these situations has dropped right off. Jover’s taken them as far as he can?
27 min: This game has an end of season feel. Both teams perhaps thinking of other targets.
26 min: Mazraoui and Merino collide. It looked like Merino’s foul but it goes the other way. Partey gets a glimpse of goal but his shot is blocked.
23 min: Talking of blunt attacks. Garnacho has the ball but struggles to find teammates and angles to work with. There’s little impetus.
22 min: An injection of atmosphere from the Stretford End: “We want Glazers out.” A perennial favourite. Arsenal continue to dominate but are struggling to locate the final ball.
20 min: Odegaard finds the ball in the loose but drags it along the ground and to Onana’s palms. Imagine if Arsenal had a striker, he says, asking the most asked question in football
19 min: A Doctor Creepen gets in touch: “I think the appropriate Stone Roses song for this current Man Utd team is Fool’s Gold, for hopefully obvious reasons.”
18 min: Amorim prowls the sideline, his trousers looking half-mast. Though at least he won’t get any mud on them.
17 min: The usual load of movement, Rice whips in, and Onana punches clear. Partey chooses to win a throw rather than launch a cross in. Possibly with Jover in mind.
16 min: Arsenal win a corner. Initialise Nicolas Jover….
15 min: Another United attack. Fernandes releases Garnacho who fancies it against Calafiori, though his ball across – neither cross nor shot – finds nobody. Zirkzee was closest.
14 min: Peter Oh’s in: “‘This Is The One’ is a great tune, but for this current version of Manchester United, the more appropriate Stone Roses song is ‘I Wanna Be Adored’.”
13 min: A United attack, Garnacho down the wing but the ball cleared with some ease by Arsenal. Arsenal resume their dominance of possession. They may be the Raymond Poulidor of the affair, but they are so much better than United.
