Arsenal and Manchester United played out an enthralling game of football at Old Trafford and shared a point apiece with a 2-2 draw.
David de Gea’s goalkeeping error coupled with Ander Herrera’s lack of awareness handed Arsenal an early lead just 26 minutes into the game. Shkodran Mustafi hit the turf with his header off Lucas Torreira’s corner from the left and De Gea’s attempt to flick the ball over the crossbar just wasn’t strong enough. Herrera could still have saved United’s blushed but the Spaniard was late to react and he cleared the ball after it had crossed the line.
United pushed forward after conceding the opener and found an immediate response. Marcos Rojo, who was playing his first game of the season, forced a good save from Bernd Leno off a free-kick and the Herrera reacted quickly enough to cut the ball back into the penalty area, which was turned in by Anthony Martial to restore parity at the half-hour mark.
Both the teams kept probing away at one another and tried to work the openings but another bizarre moment swung the pendulum in Arsenal’s favour. This time it was Marcos Rojo who lost the ball inside his own half. Alexandre Lacazette exchanged passes with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Rojo’s last-ditch attempt to save himself resulted in an own goal. Replays showed that the last touch came off Lacazette but he did not seem to know much about it.
The lead did not last long for the Gunners and Jesse Lingard took advantage of some sloppy goalkeeping from Bernd Leno to get United back on level terms, just a minute after Rojo’s own goal.
While United seemed happy to see the game off, Arsenal pushed for the winner but the Gunners were denied by De Gea’s goalkeeping heroics. Sead Kolasinac’s inch-perfect cross from the left found Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang inside the box but De Gea was equal to the task, keeping out a goal-bound effort from point-blank range.
Unai Emery’s men were gifted another chance to seal the game. Nemanja Matic has been poor all season and the Serb gave the ball away in a dangerous area outside the box. Henrikh Mkhitaryan created space from the right and Hector Bellerin’s vicious effort from inside the box was kept out by De Gea, once again preventing United’s demise in the dying stages of the game.
As things shaped up, it was a game marked by a comedy of errors and both the teams should be happy with a fair share of the spoils. Arsenal dropped to 5th in the standings while the Red Devils remained 8th, just behind Bournemouth on goal difference.