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Arsenal Deserved To Beat Manchester United – Mikel Arteta

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2 years ago

September 5, 2022

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Mikel Arteta lamented Arsenal’s wastefulness in front of goal as they slipped to a 3-1 Premier League defeat to Manchester United on Sunday.

Bukayo Saka deservedly pulled the Gunners level on the hour mark after Antony had opened the scoring on his United debut in the first half.

The Red Devils stormed back after that, though, and ended Arsenal’s 100-per-cent start to the season thanks to two goals from Marcus Rashford.

The result meant Arsenal have won just one of their past 16 Premier League matches at Old Trafford.

The Gunners enjoyed 60.5 per cent possession and had 16 shots to United’s 10, and Arteta believes his side did more than enough to take three points back to London.

“I am really disappointed to lose the game especially with the way it went over the 95 minutes,” he told Sky Sports.

“We had some big periods where we were totally dominant and in total control. We created chance after chance but did not close the game.

“In any moment, when they have open spaces, they are going to hurt you.

“They had three big chances and scored three goals; we have numerous chances and we didn’t score enough. We had a period in the first 18 minutes when we struggled and did not control the game but after that it was all us.

“We lose the ball in a really difficult place and play a ball in an area we don’t have to and one pass and they are through.

“We should come here and win because of the way we play. Because of the performance and the way we dominated the game.”

Arsenal thought they had taken the lead before Antony’s goal when Gabriel Martinelli applied a cool one-on-one finish 12 minutes in.

However, it was ruled out as referee Paul Tierney spotted a foul from Martin Odegaard on Christian Eriksen in the build-up after heading to the monitor – much to Arteta’s frustration.

“The referee said it was a really soft decision,” he added. “We just ask for consistency. Today we had a disallowed goal again; there is nothing we can do unfortunately now.”

Arsenal are next back in action on Thursday when they travel to FC Zurich in the Europa League.