Arsenal 2-3 Man Utd (Martinez OG 29’, Merino 84’ | Mbeumo 37’, Dorgu 50’, Cunha 87’)
EMIRATES – There is an old psychological trick which explains why so many people feel miserable at Christmas. “Dampening” is a way of watering down joy on the basis that it might not last or will somehow end in disappointment. It is starting to permeate every corner of the Emirates and this title race which should have been Arsenal’s to revel in.
Even after Matheus Cunha’s effortless curler from 25 yards, Mikel Arteta’s side are four points clear. That much is indisputable. Yet there is no excuse for losing to this Manchester United with such an air of utter self-sabotage.
The fact that Senne Lammens took to time-wasting after just 15 minutes said everything about United’s own inferiority complex, knowing full well they had not won here since they were still managed by Jose Mourinho in 2017. Somehow, Arsenal – the champions-elect Arsenal – managed to outdo them.
Michael Carrick deserves full credit for how his side responded to going behind, especially after a first half-hour in which they hardly touched the ball. But it is not often you see this level of neurosis from the best team in the country. It was as if they were desperate to gift United a route back after soaring ahead through Lisandro Martinez’s own goal. All they had to do from that point was manage the game sensibly.
Arsenal’s lead is down to four points (Photo: Reuters)Instead, Martin Zubimendi played a horror pass into the path of Bryan Mbeumo, who rounded David Raya for the equaliser. Patrick Dorgu’s outrageous volley, in off the crossbar, was freakish and at least had little to do with Arsenal’s approach.
There seemed a delicious irony to Mikel Merino poking in to make it 2-2, for it seemed as though Arsenal would just get over the line with a point. Instead of marching onwards to glory, they are stuttering at one of the worst possible times. One thing if you were to take this game in isolation – another when it is starting to look like a pattern.
The crowd erupt with such venom at a delayed Ben White throw, a sideways Eberechi Eze pass, or a squandered Viktor Gyokeres chance precisely because they have just watched consecutive goalless draws in the Premier League against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.
“Bottling it” so often feels like an unkind and gratuitous term that screams of the glory days of Football Twitter, but it is one that needs scrutinising here. Arsenal’s squad is the strongest in the league. They are so clearly deserving of the title and yet how else do you explain it? United did not blow them away as they did Manchester City a week earlier, instead feeding off scraps and still finding enough to feast on.
The most obvious contrast between Arteta and Carrick is that the United boss has a freedom that goes with the territory of his interim role. He took this job on the acceptance he probably did not have a shot at the permanent gig – if his players carry on at this rate, that might well change. Arteta, on the other hand, looks hamstrung by desperation for this to be his year.
Next up are Leeds, Sunderland, Brentford and Tottenham, all eminently winnable games. The biggest burden standing between Arsenal and the title is themselves.
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