Arsenal vs Manchester United LIVE: Jurrien Timber and William Saliba give Gunners win at Emirates Stadium
Arsenal 2-0 Man Utd: Mikel Arteta’s side close the gap on Liverpool with a confident win over the Red Devils
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsenal reduced Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points with a crucial 2-0 win against Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium. After Fabian Schar’s late equaliser denied Liverpool victory at St James’ Park, Mikel Arteta’s men were offered the chance to inch closer to the summit.
And the Gunners did not disappoint with Jurrien Timber and William Saliba both scoring from corners in the second half to provide the hosts with a win that kept their title hopes alive.
That provided better stability to United’s back line and frustrated the Gunners who created very little from open play. Instead, their threat came from set pieces and corners in particular. The breakthrough came in the second half as Declan Rice found Timber at the near post where a glancing header beat Andre Onana to put the hosts ahead.
A second corner brought the second goal. Bukayo Saka curled this delivery to the back post where Thomas Partey nodded the ball into the back of Saliba to double Arsenal’s lead. Amorim attempted to changed the flow of the game and swiftly introduced substitutes but the damage was done.
Relive the action from the Emirates Stadium with our live blog below:
Arsenal’s dangerous weapon provides first real twist in Premier League title race
A turn of Jurrien Timber’s head, and maybe a first real twist in the title race. Arsenal’s 2-0 win followed enough twists on the night itself. From a position at half-time where it looked like Liverpool would go 10 points clear, Mikel Arteta’s side have instead cut that lead to seven points. It feels like the first time that the leaders have been stripped back in months, while Arsenal are now building a real momentum.
They look like they can start to fly into one of those long unbeaten runs, even if this victory came from some of their earthier qualities. There weren’t quite the multi-angled attacks of the five-goal wins over Sporting and then West Ham United. Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United wouldn’t allow that, for their part. Arsenal instead beat them with what has become a real weapon of choice, as they scored twice from set-pieces.
Arsenal’s dangerous weapon provides first real twist in Premier League title race
Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United: Jurrien Timber and William Saliba scored from set pieces in a fine win over Ruben Amorim’s United
Arsenal’s corners are unstoppable - but don’t call them Stoke just yet
Not for the first time, there is panic in the Manchester United defence. Bukayo Saka is walking towards the corner and Nicolas Jover is positioned on the touchline. Rasmus Hojlund is holding onto William Saliba as if he is grasping onto a log while tumbling down a rapidly moving river. The Emirates senses the opportunity and understands what is happening: there is a queue of towering Arsenal players stationed at the back post and the United defenders are wearing expressions of grave concern. Suddenly, in a box of moving shadows, danger lay around every corner, every decoy became a target.
Seconds later, Ruben Amorim was in the dugout rubbing his face, as what should have been a cohesive, organised block unravelled into strands. “The set pieces changed the game,” Amorim admitted. On a night where Arsenal initially didn’t look like scoring from open play, Mikel Arteta’s side won due to two goals from corners to move within seven points of Liverpool. In all of this, United became the latest victims of Arsenal’s not-so-secret weapon.
Arsenal’s corners are unstoppable - but don’t call them Stoke just yet
Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United: The Gunners scored two more goals from corners to underline their set-piece threat but Mikel Arteta was more concerned about creating other ‘magic moments’
Arsenal’s win against United - the first time they have recorded four victories in a row against the Red Devils in the league - was their fourth in succession since the international break.
They will head to Fulham on Sunday bidding to keep the momentum going. Arteta said: “The will to win is there. We try our best to do that. We won four in a row, but it doesn’t matter. We have to go to Fulham now, try to be better than them and try win the game.
“It’s every three days that we play. It’s a crazy schedule. We’re going to need everybody and to mentally be very strong.”
Mikel Arteta and the club’s set-piece guru Nicolas Jover embraced on the touchline as Ruben Amorim was left with his head in his hands. The Arsenal supporters cheered raucously every time they won a corner - landing 13 in all without reply.
However, Arteta moved to play down the significance of Arsenal’s set-piece threat. “We need that, but we want to be very dangerous and very effective from every angle and every phase of play,” said Arteta.
“Today we could have scored from open play like we did against West Ham and Sporting. Last year we scored the most goals in the history of this football club. Not because of only set-pieces, but because of a lot of things that we have. We want to create individual and magic moments, too.”
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim hailed Arsenal as one of the best set-piece teams he has ever faced following the 2-0 defeat at Arsenal.
The Gunners took two points out of Liverpool’s lead at the summit of the Premier League after Jurrien Timber and William Saliba struck in the second half - both from corners - to condemn Amorim to his first defeat as United boss.
The hosts’ second-half strikes took their goals-from-corners tally to 22 since the start of last season - a statistic that is unmatched by any other team in the division.
Asked if Arsenal are one of the best teams he has come up against on corners, Amorim replied: “If you follow the Premier League for a long time you can see that.
“They are also big players and you see every occasion when (Gabriel) Martinelli and (Bukayo) Saka have one-on-ones, a lot of times they go outside and they cross, and they know that if the cross goes well, they can score, and if it is a corner they can score, too, so we have to be better on that.
“You have seen in all Arsenal games that every team have had problems with that (corners). And the difference today was the set-pieces.
“You see a goal and then the momentum changed, and it is really hard for us to take the full control of the game after that.”
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice talking to Amazon Prime:
“What a night. Manchester United have a new manager so we knew it would be a test. We stuck to the game plan and we could’ve had three or four.
“When you go up for a corner it’s a chance to score a goal. To score both of them from corners, [set-piece coach] Nico [Jover] will be buzzing and I’m so happy. It’s more just seeing clips and I know the weight I need to put on the ball and it’s just about repetition. I put a few good balls in and could’ve had a couple of assists so it was nice to get one.
“When you have a blip in the league you get written off. We stick together as a group and we knew the run of results were not good enough, now we’re starting to see a turn of that. People get carried away. You just need to be around it in February time. Liverpool have dropped points, they’re seven away so we will see what happens.”
‘The storm was there'
Ex-Manchester United striker, Dimitar Berbatov, speaking on Amazon Prime: “I admit that in the second half, the storm was there for Manchester United. Ruben Amorim said earlier that a storm was going to come for his team and it came tonight.
“The set-pieces were a big problem for them and Arsenal scored twice from them. Now it’s back to the training ground to fix the mistakes.”
‘Set pieces are a massive part of the game’
Former England midfielder Izzy Christiansen speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live: “For me it is always about the delivery.
“None of it works unless the delivery is on point. You can see how accurate they are. The delivery happens and the movement happens - Arsenal seem so effective from them.
“Arsenal recognise in order to be this bulletproof team they have to be excellent in every department of the game. Set-pieces are a massive part of the game which often gets neglected.”
Another instant classic but both Newcastle and Liverpool must learn lessons from draw
And breathe. After 90 minutes of rollicking, rumbustious entertainment, amid his disappointment, Arne Slot could at least console himself with the sense he was vindicated in one respect.
The Liverpool head coach had suggested Newcastle United could provide his side with a tougher test than either Real Madrid or Manchester City and, amid the drama on Tyneside, he was proved right.
A fixture with a history of classics delivered another.
Another instant classic but both Newcastle and Liverpool must learn lessons from draw
Newcastle 3-3 Liverpool: Isak, Gordon and Schar netted for hosts while Salah scored twice and set up Jones
Man City back to winning ways
Manchester City defeated Nottingham Forest 3-0 tonight.
“We needed it,” said Pep Guardiola after the game. “The club and the players, everyone needed to win. But it is just one win. The problems continued with Manuel [Akanji] and Nathan [Ake].
“Nathan doesn’t look good. We will see tomorrow. He could not continue and we will see in three days what will happen. I am sad for Nathan. Manu maybe in Turin. Nathan will be longer.”
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