Late Cunha strike topples Gunners as pressure mounts on title charge
Manchester United's Matheus Cunha celebrates his late winner. Pic: Mike Egerton/PA
Michael Carrick masterminded another bombshell result as caretaker Manchester United manager to keep the Premier League race very much in the balance.
His first match in charge resulted in a defeat over Manchester City last week, and this time he nearly went one better at the home of the title leaders.
A dramatic 88th minute winner from Matheus Cunha, moments after Arsenal had drawn level, reduced the gap at the top of the table four points ahead of City.
A deserved win for Carrick and co. also lifted United into the top four and very much on contention for a return to Champions League football next season Bryan Mbuemo and Patrick Dorgu scored the potentially pivotal goals earlier as United came from behind after conceding a Lissandro Martinez own goal.
Maybe Carrick, a legend as a United player, will now be the next to get a crack at being the permanent replacement of Ruben Amorim.
A strangely subdued Arsenal got what they deserved too, having dominated the first half hour. Their first home defeat of the season will not necessarily prove fatal to their title hopes, but it will take a lot to come back from mentally. And it is only January.
United, in their old school menacing all black kit, looked reminiscent of wins over Arsenal of old, but possibly years before any of the current players were either born or even aware of the fierce rivalry between the two clubs that once dominated English football together.
And United’s initial approach to the match was tame at best as they hardly had a kick of the ball for the first 20 minutes. And were it not for a world-class reaction save by Senne Lemmens from a Martin Zubimendi header they would have been behind on goals as well as possession.
It was all too risky for United. They were compact and good at denying Arsenal wide open space to attack but the set pieces were being conceded at an alarming rate, considering the home side’s pedigree with a dead-ball situation.
The breakthrough goal was as scruffy as the match and it was at first unclear whether Jurrien Timber had finished or Martinez had nudged the ball into his own net.
Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard combined well on the right before the Arsenal captain slightly mishit a ball into the penalty area. Timber appeared to beat Martinez to the loose ball , but the ball ultimately span into the goal off the United defender’s boot.
Joy unconfined from the Arsenal fans and still silence from the massed ranks of United supporters behind the goal – for less than ten minutes as they equalised and nearly took the lead.
The goal brought the best out of Carrick’s side and they had two or three chances before Mbeumo levelled in the 37th minute with his 50th Premier League goal and only the sixth Arsenal had conceded here all season.
It was an uncharacteristically poor spell from Arteta’s usually reliable side defensively and, just as Arsenal fully deserved to be ahead, it was hard to argue that United were now on level. Game on and just what the 60,000-plus crowd needed on a bitterly cold January north London night.
A big half-time for both managers too, albeit with more on the line for Arteta and his title hopes.
But it was more of the same as United still looked the more confident side, taking the lead through a stunning 20-yard half volley from Dorgu in the 49th minute. Now, having conceded twice at home for the first time all season, Arsenal really had it all to do.
It took a while for the Arsenal players and supporters to catch their breath as the United players and supporters eagerly played and called for a third goal.
Arteta looked to his bench to try to change the game and made a quadruple substitution with only 56 minutes gone. Bold? Desperate? Possibly a bit of both, but it instantly raised the hopes of the home fans who instantly got behind their side again.
United remained well organised and hard to break down with an opportunistic shot from Saka their best attempt at levelling before he took the corner to give substitute Merino the chance to equalise from the resulting corner.
Then Arsenal were caught by Cunha’s long range stunner just as they had been optimistically pressing for a winning goal of their own. A juicy seven minutes of time added on gave Arsenal false cause for hope where there had been none and ultimately was not.
Raya 5, Timber 6, Saliba 6, Gabriel 6, Hincapie 5 (White 57) , Zubimendi 5 (Eze 57), Rice 6, Odegaard 6 (Merino 57), Saka 6, Trossard 6 (Madueke 75), Jesus 6 (Gyokeres 57). Subs: Arrizabalaga, Lewis-Skelly, Mosquera, Martinelli.
Lammens 8, Dalot 6, Maguire 6, Martinez 6, Shaw 6, Casemiro 6, Mainoo 6, Amad 6 (Mazraoui, 88) Fernandes 6, Dorgu 7 (Sesko81), Mbeumo 7 (Cunha 68). Subs: Bayindir, Mount Malacia, Yoro, Ugarte, Heaven.
Craig Pawson 5
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