Premier League Sep 3, 2023
Arsenal left it late (again), but they seal yet another injury-time win over Manchester United in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium. We look back at the key Arsenal vs Manchester United stats from the encounter.
It was a case of Déjà vu in north London, as for a second consecutive season Arsenal defeated Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium with an injury-time winner.
For so long, it looked like Arsenal would leave frustrated at having to accept a second home draw in the space of eight days. That was until the 96th minute, when Declan Rice paid off some of his club-record £105 million fee with the winning goal, before Gabriel Jesus put the icing on the cake with a third goal in the 101st minute. Rice’s goal was the latest winning goal in a Premier League game between these two clubs (95:43).
The overall match statistics might make it seem like Arsenal easily deserved their win, but a third of their 2.27 expected goals (xG) total in the game arrived thanks to Rice and Jesus’ goals deep into added time. That said, they spent large swathes of the game in the United half and showed much more attacking intent than the away side. Their 42 touches in the opposition box were more than double that of United’s 19, while they completed over three times as many passes in the final third of the pitch (168 vs. 47).
Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United side showed very little ambition to attack the Arsenal goal throughout the match, instead putting their faith in catching Arsenal on the break. It worked for their opening goal, and they were a couple of centimetres away from snatching a late, late win in similar fashion, as Alejandro Garnacho just strayed offside before scoring what he thought would prove to be the winner.
Just 12.2% of United’s successful passes ended in the final third of the pitch – that is the second lowest proportion by a Man Utd side in a Premier League match on record (since 2006-07).
As it turned out, playing so deep and inviting pressure against this dangerous Arsenal side is a difficult tactic to deploy for a whole game – even more so with the more extreme number of minutes added on in games this season. Manchester United paid the price, thanks to Jesus and Rice.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring with his sixth career goal against Arsenal – only against Leicester City (eight) has he scored more often in all club competitions. Overall, this was his 10th competitive goal involvement against the Gunners (six goals, four assists), which is more than against any other opponent.
Rashford’s goal was peak-United in transition. Christian Eriksen picked up a sloppy, misplaced pass from Kai Havertz before threading a perfect ball into Rashford’s path. Ten seconds after United regained possession midway inside their own half, the ball was in the back of the Arsenal net. It meant that for the seventh time in 2023, Arsenal conceded a goal from the very first shot that they have faced in a Premier League match – a league-high tally.
That lead lasted only 110 seconds, however. The ever-dependable Martin Ødegaard netted the equaliser for Arsenal with yet another goal. Since the start of last season, the Norwegian is the club’s top scorer in the Premier League with 17 goals from central midfield. It took a lot longer for Arsenal’s second and third goals to come, but Mikel Arteta won’t care.
Arsenal enter the international break unbeaten in the Premier League with 10 points from a possible 12 – just two points off leaders Manchester City.
Manchester United, meanwhile, have lost two of their opening four games to a Premier League season for just the fifth time – with three of those coming in the last six seasons.
Our live Opta match centre delivers you all the Arsenal vs Manchester United stats for the Premier League game at the Emirates Stadium
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own analysis during and after the game.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta facts following the game, as well.
Arsenal vs Manchester United Opta Stats
Post-Match
- Declan Rice’s goal on 95 minutes and 43 seconds was the latest winning goal ever scored in a Premier League fixture between Arsenal and Manchester United.
- Arsenal are unbeaten in their last six Premier League games against Manchester United at the Emirates (W5 D1), and have now won three consecutive home league games against them for the first time since May 1991.
- Manchester United haven’t won any of their last six Premier League away games in London (D2 L4), their longest such run since 2015 to 2016 between the spells of Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho (also six games).
- Manchester United were ahead in this match for just 110 seconds, following Martin Ødegaard’s equaliser in the 28th minute. Arsenal have now only lost two of the last nine Premier League games at the Emirates in which they’ve conceded the opening goal, and have come back to win five of those (D2).
- Marcus Rashford became just the second Manchester United player to score in three consecutive Premier League appearances against Arsenal, along with Robin van Persie who did so between 2012 and 2013.
- Marcus Rashford opened the scoring in the 27th minute, with what was both Manchester United’s first shot attempt and touch in Arsenal’s penalty area. Indeed, it was the seventh time in 2023 that Arsenal have conceded from the opposition’s first shot in a Premier League match – the most of any side in this period.
- Martin Ødegaard netted his 25th Premier League goal for Arsenal, while he’s now scored more league goals than any other Gunners player since the start of last season (17).
- Manchester United’s Christian Eriksen registered his 75th assist in the Premier League, moving ahead of Thierry Henry (74) and into fifth for most assists by overseas players in the competition’s history.
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