'This is just the start' - Michael Carrick backs Manchester United to keep improving

Manchester United manager Michael Carrick celebrates. Pic: Mike Egerton/PA Wire.

Arsenal 2 Manchester United 3

Michael Carrick masterminded another bombshell result as caretaker Manchester United manager to keep the Premier League race very much in the balance. And then he had to calm everyone down.

While Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta reassured his Arsenal players and supporters they do have the ability and mentality to ride out a winless three-match streak and win the title, Carrick took the fuss all in his stride and played his side and his own impact down.

His first match in charge resulted in a defeat over Manchester City last week, and this time he went one better at the home of the title favourites. A dramatic 88th minute winner from Matheus Cunha, moments after Arsenal had drawn level, reduced the gap at the top of the table to four points.

“We’re gonna win the league’ chanted the United fans as some called for Carrick to get Ruben Amorim’s old job on a permanent basis.

He acknowledged the excitement he has generated and said: "I'm enjoying it. It's a fantastic position to be in. What happens next, I'm not going to be answering it every week. I'm enjoying it and I'll continue to do what I can.

“This is just the start. Two games. We will have bigger tests to come, but I need to help the players ride this energy and confidence.”

A deserved win for Carrick and co also lifted United into the top four and very much in contention for a return to Champions League football next season.

For Arteta, it is looking like the title or bust. Reacting to questions about his players and supporters looking nervous, he said: “I don't know, but we have to understand that we all want to win, and the crowd is trying to be behind the team to make the best decisions and to win the game, and we need to go through that.

"We know what the players need, and we're going to be playing much better in the next game, like we did two and a half days ago, one of the best and toughest places in Europe to go, like against Inter Milan.

“We know that we're below par, especially in certain individual standards, and when that happens, the margin becomes very, very close, and today they made those margins bigger because the individual quality that they have made a difference in the game.”

He also responded to comments from former Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira, who questioned his players’ mental strength. Arteta added: “That's fine. I mean, we accept every opinion, where it comes and where it's coming from, and they will have the right reason to say it.

"At the end, we have to show the mental strength that we have on the pitch when it comes to a matchday.

“We were absolutely brilliant in Milan, and today we weren’t that good. I don't know if it was mental, because of how much they played, but because we were poor, especially technically in certain aspects of the game, against a team that when you make those mistakes, they can punish you big time. That was the difference”.

Bryan Mbuemo and Patrick Dorgu scored the potentially pivotal goals earlier as United came from behind after conceding a Lisandro Martinez own goal.

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 their 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.

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 from dead-ball situations.

The opening goal was as scruffy as the match as it was at first unclear whether Jurrien Timber had finished or if 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 it ultimately spun 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.

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 Arsenal's best attempt at levelling before he took the corner to give substitute Merino the chance to equalise.

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 there was none.

Arsenal: 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).

Manchester United: 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).

Referee: Craig Pawson 5.