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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Nathan Ridley

Arsenal fans left stunned as Man Utd's David de Gea backs up pre-match claim

David de Gea may have been on the losing side when Manchester United made the trip to face Arsenal, but the Spanish goalkeeper still managed to leave fans stunned with one magnificent moment.

De Gea, 32, demonstrated his terrific reflexes with a point-blank save to deny Eddie Nketiah late on in the thrilling Premier League contest. Although the United goalkeeper could do nothing to stop Arsenal striker Nketiah from scoring a 90th-minute clincher, but his prior intervention left the Emirates in a state of shock.

With the scoreline 2-2 and only six minutes left on the clock, Nketiah thought he'd done enough to bag his second of the afternoon when he pounced on a goalmouth scramble. Blasting a left-footed striker from close range, De Gea somehow got down and tipped the ball away.

Noise could only be heard from the relieved away supporters at the Emirates, as the home fans went into stunned silence. Fortunately, they'd be cheering shortly after when the ex- Spain international was beaten and Arsenal snatched all three points from the Red Devils.

Despite De Gea's misery in the 3-2 loss, he still managed to back up comments which he made ahead of the match. With only six months remaining on his current contract, the shot-stopper's future at Old Trafford is in doubt and manager Erik ten Hag would likely prefer a goalkeeper with more ability on the ball. Nevertheless, De Gea insists that he has nothing to improve.

"I don't have to show anything, I have shown already for many years my qualities. I know people love to talk, but I'm used to that," he affirmed ahead of the trip to North London which proved to be United's first league defeat in eight games. "I'm just performing as well as I can, helping the team and trying my best all the time. Experience makes it easier to block out the noise.

David de Gea was unable to prevent Man Utd from losing to Arsenal (Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)

Have your say! Should Ten Hag stick with De Gea at Man Utd? Let us know your stance in the comments section.

"I live a lot of things, I get through many, many difficult moments. I don't care to be honest, I just focus on my games, on my training and on my team. I'm feeling great, I'm feeling really well. I'm helping the team, training well, feeling confident. Like the whole team, we're playing well."

It's no surprise to learn that De Gea is willing to take a pay cut in order to stay at Old Trafford beyond June. Mirror Football understands that the former Athletic Bilbao starlet is expected to put pen to paper on reduced terms, as he's currently earning an eye-watering £375,000 per week.

" Yeah, I'm very relaxed [about the contract], just focussed on training, performing as best as I can. But, for sure, it's going to end in a good way," De Gea recently stated. "I was saying this is my club, I've been here many, many years and it's a huge honour to be here and I’m so happy here."

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