The only goal of defender Riccardo Calafiori completely opposes the initial prediction of a fierce attack match between Man United and Arsenal. If we evaluate their impressiveness, the attacking stars of Man United did better. The "Red Devils" attackers dominated the number of shots against their opponents (22 compared to 9). However, the excellence of goalkeeper David Raya has denied many opportunities from the home team.
On Arsenal's side, great expectations are placed on Viktor Gyokeres. However, the Swedish star had an unimpressive Premier League debut.
In 60 minutes on the pitch, the Arsenal rookie failed to make a shot towards the Man United goal. Gyokeres only had 21 touches, 4/9 successful passes (44%) and lost the ball 11 times. In addition, the 27-year-old star also showed a loss in controversial situations with only 3/13 successes. This poor statistic has led to him being rated by SofaScore with only 6 points (the lowest in the match).
The satellites around Gyokeres also did not play well, with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard all obscured throughout their time on the pitch. Arsenal's attack played out of sync and did not show many bounces and coordination as quickly as before. Changes like Noni Madueke and Kai Havertz did not leave an impression when Arsenal were pressured by Man United in the second half.
Arsenal's early goal has caused Mikel Arteta to adjust the lineup to be more practical and passive when they have to visit Old Trafford. In addition, the "Gunners" were somewhat surprised by Man United's proactive, pressing and tight playing style.
For Man United, Ruben Amorim has decided not to be reckless when leaving Benjamin Sesko on the bench. Instead, Mason Mount was deployed as a false nine in the starting lineup. However, the English star seemed to disappear against Arsenal's solid defense.
However, the performances of Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha are commendable. Both of these stars have shown their experience in the Premier League with dribbling, creating walls and creating scoring opportunities. In addition, the pressing ability of this duo is something Ruben Amorim has been looking forward to for a long time (Mbeumo ran 10.4 km, Cunha was 9.5 km).
Mbeumo was the most active player on the pitch when running tirelessly. He was the player with the most touches among the attacking stars of both teams. Mbeumo's touches brought excitement as an attack was about to take place. In addition, the Cameroonian star had 5 shots (2 on target) and created a delicious pass.
The most regrettable situation was probably the cutter that headed the ball after Patrick Dorgu's cross in the 73rd minute. However, the brilliance of David Raya prevented Mbeumo's first goal for the Old Trafford side.
As for Cunha, the Brazilian star also launched 3/4 of his shots on target towards Arsenal's goal. In addition, his ability to dribble was also strongly promoted with 4/6 successful times. However, the nearly 70 minutes without a real target striker prevented Cunha and Mbeumo from creating many coordination routes in the midfield area.
It was not until the 65th minute that Amorim brought on Benjamin Sesko to replace Mason Mount. The new Man United player did not have much room to play with only 7 touches, 2 shots blocked and 1/3 of successful challenges. However, Sesko still left his mark with 2 passes opening up opportunities, one of which was a wall pass for De Ligt to have a close-range shot.
Man United fans may be temporarily satisfied with the attack's performance against Arsenal. If he maintains the same enthusiasm and attacking tempo as in the last match, along with Sesko playing more, Ruben Amorim can be confident that he will have more goals in the following matches.
