Manchester United player ratings vs Arsenal (Premier League)

Manchester United narrowly lost 3-1 against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in their fourth Premier League fixture of the season.

Manchester United started with an expected XI, as Victor Lindelöf was the only change for the injured Raphaël Varane in Erik ten Hag‘s team against Arsenal.

United certainly started in control, with 61% possession of the ball in the opening 10 minutes of the tie, and looked comfortable with the ball at their collective feet – especially between the defence and midfield, although United did not put a single pass into the final third in that time.

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Kai Havertz miss-kicked a fantastic chance to give Arsenal the lead in the 13th minute, and from this moment, Arsenal started to gain significant amounts of momentum.

Marcus Rashford, from nothing, opened the scoring with a fantastic curling effort, however, it took just two minutes for Arsenal to equalise through Martin Ødegaard’s first-time effort.

The second half saw drama after drama after drama, with United having an 87-minute goal ruled out, only for Declan Rice to smash the ball in with seconds remaining and Gabriel Jesus finishing off the game with a last-gasp counterattack.

Here are the ratings from the fixture.

Starting XI

André Onana – 8/10

Onana started the game with poise and control, looking comfortable on the ball – but his efforts felt a little muted considering that United were not capitalising on the possession that Onana’s play was giving them.

“Casemiro should go in net and Onana should go in midfield for five minutes,” Neville remarked in the first half, and there was not much he could have done for Ødegaard’s goal.

Received a yellow card for timewasting, which was probably fair, but also made a crucial save with 10 minutes to play to deny Saka the lead, and was unlucky not to save Rice’s winner.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka – 5/10

Wan-Bissaka was tasked with dealing against Martinelli, who, although did not get much direct chances at goal from his side, was not pocketed either.

His performance was further compounded by the penalty he then gave away 10 minutes of the second half gone, although he was lucky to see that the referee overturned the decision.

Victor Lindelöf – 5/10

Starting in place of Raphaël Varane, he initially did well, but had a very poor moment towards the end of half-time and conceded to a yellow card after misjudging the ball and taking down Nketiah. Worrying moment.

He continued to look shaky in the second half and was substituted for Evans with seven minutes to play.

Lisandro Martínez – 8/10

Immediately, it became obvious that a lot of United’s defensive progressive play was going to go through Martinez, who started the fixture well.

Fantastic clearance to nick the ball off Nketiah in the 13th minute to deny what was to be a certain goal, but eventually had to be substituted for Harry Maguire due to an injury.

Diogo Dalot – 8/10

Starting once again due to Luke Shaw’s injury, Dalot did well to contain Saka up until the 35th minute and made some crucial clearances at his back post.

His performance against Saka was brilliant and was unlucky to be on the losing side.

Casemiro – 7.5/10

Considering the scrutiny that United’s midfield has been under in recent weeks, Casemiro was good with his time on the ball, keeping the game ticking and playing some lovely passes.

He continued to thrive in the second half, doing his job just as intended.

Christian Eriksen – 7/10

After scoring against Nottingham Forest, Eriksen was rewarded with his second start of the season and produced a lovely assist for Rashford’s opening goal.

Was less involved in the second half,

Bruno Fernandes – 6/10

Fernandes was not involved too much in the first half, with Eriksen and Casemiro mainly taking charge of the creative duties when required.

In the second half, however, Fernandes became much more involved – especially once Højlund was introduced – but to no avail.

Antony – 6/10

A lot of the play went through Antony in the first half, but he did little with the ball to warrant this. Wasted a few potential chances with either poor passes or mistimed shots.

The second half saw him grow into the game but with little end significance.

Anthony Martial – 4/10

With Rasmus Højlund not ready to start, Martial took the reigns upfront from kick-off but did not show himself much in the game.

Marcus Rashford – 7/10

From absolutely nothing to Manchester United’s opening goalscorer, it was quite an opening goal for the player – however, he was not involved too much else in the first half.

It felt on a couple of occasions that he was too selfish, looking too much to open up an avenue to shoot rather than create a chance himself,

Substitutes

Rasmus Højlund – 7/10

Coming on for his debut with 30 minutes to play, and immediately his physical presence was clear – battling with Gabriel, he made life tough for the Brazilian.

His physical superiority allowed United to create multiple chances up front, with the defenders thinking twice before trying to match him in a physical battle.

Harry Maguire – 6/10

Substituted on for Martínez with the Argentine going off with an injury, Maguire’s introduction changed United’s tactics, with the team going much more direct for the final third of the game.

Alejandro Garnacho – 7/10

Scoring with just minutes left to play, his goal was disallowed for one of the tightest offside calls this season.

He was much more direct than Antony, and almost bagged United the winner, if not for the tight call.

Jonny Evans – 5/10

Coming on for the tired Lindelof to hand United some fresh legs, he made some good actions – but it was his outstretched foot that guided Rice’s winner past the stretching Onana.