Manchester United's pre-season preparations were stepped up a notch in New Jersey on Saturday, as the Reds beat fellow Premier League contenders Arsenal 2-0 at the MetLife Stadium.
A crowd of 82,262 attended the match - a record figure for an association football match in the state - and witnessed United deliver the best performance of our pre-season programme so far. Bruno Fernandes, named club captain on Thursday, marked his first appearance of the 2023/24 season with a fine goal to open the scoring, before Jadon Sancho's soaring shot made it two only seven minutes later.
The club friendly game between Arsenal and Manchester United is scheduled for July 22, 2023, at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, United States.
Both sides named strong lineups for the high-profile clash that came three weeks before the start of the Premier League season, with Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber all handed first Arsenal starts. Andre Onana did not make the United squad. Antony scuffed an effort wide early on before Gabriel Martinelli twice fired straight at Tom Heaton in quick succession, as the Gunners began to get on top in the match. Two errors though proved costly, as United took complete control.
Arteta was particularly non-plussed by Maguire's challenge on the Arsenal captain and was notably seen venting his frustrations to the referee.
Meanwhile, new captain Fernandes was also seen pulling his manager away from an official, after he too was venting his frustrations with the referees.
We'll have all the analysis and commentary from the match on Mail Sport's home page but for more analysis be sure to check out our match report below!
Erik ten Hag is always demanding that his United team step it up a gear, no matter how well we've been performing, and the manager would surely admit that this first 45 minutes against the Gunners was a level above what we've seen in the previous two matches during pre-season.
United head west to San Diego on Sunday (23 July) ahead of another sold-out match, against AFC Wrexham, on Tuesday 25 July (19:30 local time). A youthful Reds XI will take on the Welsh club as part of the Snapdragon Cup, with kick-off scheduled for 03:30 BST on Wednesday 26 July for those fans watching in the United Kingdom. A day later, a more senior team is expected to take on Real Madrid in Houston, before we round off the USA section of our pre-season tour with a game against Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas on Sunday 30 July.
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