Goals from Granit Xhaka and Danny Welbeck are enough for Arsenal to record their first ever competitive win over a Jose Mourinho side. More importantly, they’re still in with a chance of finishing in the top four with four matches left. They’re still sixth, but they’re seven points behind Liverpool, six behind Manchester City and two behind Manchester United. It’s not over yet and Arsenal can ramp up the pressure by beating Southampton on Wednesday night. As for United, their unbeaten run in the league, stretching back to October, is over and more than ever it seems their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League rest on winning the Europa League. Their workload’s caught up with them here. In fairness to Mourinho, however, the focus is on this Thursday’s second leg against Celta Vigo. They’ll take losing this one as long as they’re in Stockholm on 24 May. Thanks for reading and emailing. Bye.
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Full-time: Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United
That’s your lot!
90 min+2: McTominay shoots straight at Cech from 18 yards. Arsenal’s fans are taking great delight in taunting Mourinho.
90 min: There will be three added minutes.
87 min: I thought United were Invincible.
84 min: Olivier Giroud replaces Danny Welbeck, Hector Bellerin replaces Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Scott McTominay’s also on for his United debut, replacing Juan Mata.
81 min: A loose clearances lands at Rooney’s feet. He leans back, puts all his weight behind the shot and puts it into the stands from 20 yards.
79 min: There’s little prospect of a United fightback. This looks likely to be the game that ends their top-four hopes. How ironic that it’s coming against a team also set to miss out. You belong with us, Arsenal seem to be saying.
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76 min: Francis Coquelin replaces Granit Xhaka.
75 min: Xhaka’s down and in need of some treatment.
74 min: Rooney bends one just round the angle of post and bar from 20 yards.
72 min: Rooney’s attempt to tackle Ozil was pure comedy. He’s looking every inch a future Chinese Super League star.
71 min: Ozil slips round Rooney in a battle of sheer athleticism, but his low cross evades Welbeck.
68 min: Xhaka volleys wide from 20 yards.
67 min: Koscielny’s booked for cleaning out Martial on the right.
66 min: If it stays like this, Manchester United won’t have scored in away games against Chelsea (league and cup), Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal this season. They’re at Tottenham next week. It’s a record that raises questions about United’s approach in these big away games under Mourinho.
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65 min: A free-kick to United, a little to the left, quite far out. Rooney whips it to the near post, Cech pushes it wide.
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64 min: United have switched to a 4-4-2. Rooney and Carrick are in central midfield, Mata and Lingard wide, and Rashford and Martial are up front.
63 min: Marcus Rashford replaces Ander Herrera. As it stands, Arsenal will be six points behind Manchester City and seven behind Liverpool.
61 min: Jesse Lingard replaces the disappointing Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
59 min: How long before we see Pogba and Rashford?
GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Manchester United (Welbeck, 57 min)
Manchester United are rocking. They fail to clear their lines after a raid down the right from Oxlade-Chamberlain. Darmian’s beaten to the ball and Oxlade-Chamberlain has another chance to whip in a cross. He does, it’s magnificent and Welbeck, lurking behind Smalling, heads past De Gea from six yards out! Arsene knows.
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57 min: Herrera’s been excellent recently, but he did let himself down on the goal, turning his back on Xhaka’s shot. Meanwhile...
56 min: This must be the first time Arsenal have led a Mourinho side in a competitive match since May 2007.
GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Manchester United (Xhaka, 54 min)
Out of nothing! The game’s drifting one moment, the next Arsenal have the lead. Granit Xhaka decides to have a pop from 30 yards. It’s a well struck effort with his left foot but it’s probably not going to beat De Gea - until, that is, it hits Herrera’s back and loops over the Spaniard and into the top right corner!
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51 min: Tuanzebe’s defending maturely, Sanchez the latest to lose possession to the United youngster.
48 min: The second half has started at a snail’s pace. Everyone’s having a lovely afternoon stroll in the sun!
46 min: We’re off again. United get the second half underway.
Half-time: Arsenal 0-0 Manchester United
Entertaining but goalless.
45 min: There will be one added minute.
43 min: Arsenal are beginning to dominate. United can’t get out of their half. Arsenal are pressing them very high now.
40 min: United’s threat has dissipated in the past 10 minutes or so.
38 min: Herrera’s down with a head injury.
37 min: Sanchez lifts a pass over the top to Welbeck. The flag’s up for offside. It was close.
33 min: Holding redeems himself, saving Arsenal with a fine clearing header as Tuanzebe tries to meet a cross from the middle. Both defences are all over the place at times.
32 min: Rob Holding almost gifts Wayne Rooney the opening goal! Under pressure, the youngster played a short backpass towards Cech, putting his goalkeeper in all sorts of trouble. He wasn’t helped out by Koscielny, who tried to step in front of Rooney rather than go for the ball. Rooney just evaded him, then opened up his body and tried to bend the ball past Cech. But no. Cech makes the save and United have to settle for a corner!
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30 min: Ramsey drives into the area, outmuscles Jones and looks up as he reaches the right byline. He tees up Welbeck, six yards out, but Smalling’s in the way. Corner. The ball comes to Sanchez on the left. He curls in a cross and United are all over the shop. Ramsey can’t reach it in the six-yard box, Ozil hooks it back and no Arsenal player’s in the right place at the right time. United aren’t safe yet, though. Oxlade-Chamberlain lets fly from 25 yards and De Gea pushes his stinging drive away. “In reply to Matt Loten, this is potentially a very good team if all players are fit and performing but not a great (or realistically title winning) one,:” says . To be great it needs a quality centre back who will stay fit to play with Bailly, realistically two top quality full backs (or at least one) to replace the capable but limited Valencia and Darmian, and 20 goal a season striker on the basis that a 19 year old, no matter how good he is, shouldn’t be relied upon as first choice all year. Individually Smalling, Jones, Shaw and Martial could plug some of those gaps but form and/or injury this season just hasn’t been with them. A replacement for Carrick who can’t go on too much longer would be nice too...
28 min: Sanchez releases Ramsey on the left. Ramsey’s cross is incompetent.
26 min: Mata breaks down the right, the flag’s down and Mkhitaryan’s free in the middle. Luckily for Arsenal, Mata’s cross is poor and Cech claims. Up the other end, Oxlade-Chamberlain wins a corner. On the touchline, Mourinho and Wenger are arguing about something. The temperature’s rising. In comes the corner from Ozil. A header lands at the feet of Welbeck in the six-yard box. He turns and shoots, but Jones manages to turn it over!
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24 min: Martial shows his speed as he races Koscielny down the right. Koscielny’s forced to concede a corner. United take this one short and Mata dinks a cross into the middle, where Rooney rises and heads wide.
21 min: Mata hoicks the free-kick high to the far post. Mkhitaryan heads it back across goal under little pressure and Arsenal fail to react, eventually conceding a corner after timid defending. Cech punches Mata’s cross away.
20 min: Tuanzebe chests down a pass from Rooney, holds off Sanchez and sets off down the right. Sanchez fouls him.
18 min: For a moment, Martial seems to be away down the right after tackling Oxlade-Chamberlain. Fortunately for Arsenal, the linesman’s flag’s up for handball.
15 min: Welbeck steams up the right, away from Jones, who’s struggling. The Arsenal striker cuts inside, into the area, but Ander Herrera anticipates the danger and cuts it out.
14 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain swings a cross into the middle from the right. Tuanzebe heads away from Welbeck. “I really can’t make up my mind whether this is a bang average United squad, or actually quite a good one,” says Matt Loten. “Supposedly decimated by injuries and playing the reserves, but Martial, Mata and Mkhitaryan should be more than capable of opening up any team on their day. Do United have a squad capable of challenging for the title, or are they in need of several new faces over the summer? I’m perplexed.”
12 min: United look bright and inventive in possession. Arsenal are defending very high. That’s sure to end well.
9 min: Sanchez, under little pressure in the middle, slips a pass through to Ramsey. Mkhitaryan’s nodded off now. Ramsey shoots low towards the bottom right corner, but De Gea superbly tips it wide! I see we’re not bothering with defending today, then. This could already be 2-2!
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8 min: Rooney is playing quite a deep role. He’s mvoing around freely and Arsenal are struggling to pick him up. Martial’s also dangerous, skidding into the area and putting the fear into Arsenal again. He’s just halted in time. Herrera wins a corner, but Rooney’s delivery is a waste again.
7 min: “The only consolation for Arsenal fans is that the impending defeat is predictable, and only the manner of it is in doubt,” says Charles Antaki. “It might be thoroughly dismal, or perhaps - I’m trying to look on the bright side - illuminated by the odd few moments of hope before the inevitable crushing failure. Happy days.” That’s the spirit!
5 min: An encouragingly open start. Gibbs hares clear down the left, Mata dozing off, and he hooks a cross back to Welbeck. He can’t bring the ball under his control, but Ozil bursts on to it, past a defender and shoots low towards the far corner. De Gea saves. United attack. Rooney slides a fine pass through to Martial, who holds off Koscielny before bearing down on goal. Under pressure, he stabs instinctively towards the near post, but Cech smartly turns it behind for a corner.
4 min: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain cleans out Mkhitaryan with a poor sliding challenge on the left. He’s fortunate not to be booked. Rooney whips the free-kick straight into Cech’s clutches.
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2 min: United scheme down the right and Mata earns a yard to send in a cross with his right foot. Rooney sharply gets in front of his marker, but heads a few yards over.
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And we’re off! Arsenal, in their red and white, get the game underway, kicking from left to right in the first half. Manchester United are in blue, presumably so Arsenal think they’re playing Mourinho’s Chelsea. Clever.
It’s 11 years to the day since Arsenal played their last game at Highbury and denied Tottenham a spot in the last four with a win over Wigan. Thierry Henry scored a hat-trick. Eleven years on, there’s no one like Henry in this Arsenal team. The willing but erratic Danny Welbeck leads the line for them today. Here come the teams. The match will be on the way shortly.
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Sky have just aired a not particularly insightful interview with Arsene Wemger, conducted by Thierry Henry. Consider me stunned.
“Do we really think it’s appropriate to have Andre Marriner refereeing a match with Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain playing?” says JR in Illinois. “Doesn’t anyone remember what happened last time?”
And against a Mourinho team, no less.
Now Mourinho’s talking up Axel Tuanzebe. “To play against Arsenal is not easy for anyone,” he says, but he goes on to say that he hopes it will be an amazing day for a youngster who he appears to rate.
Jose Mourinho’s on television. “I trust the players, I know they have quality, I know they have desire. But I know three of them don’t play football for six or seven weeks. To finish top four we need to win four matches. To win the Europa League we need to win two matches.”
Liverpool have dropped more points at Anfield, drawing 0-0 with Southampton. James Milner saw a penalty saved. He’s on his haunches at the final whistle. He knows they could still slip out of the top four, even though they’ve gone back into third, a point above City. They’ve played one more than City and two games more than Manchester United, who could go two points behind them if they win this one. A win for Arsenal takes them six points behind City. But all of a sudden, it’s in United’s hands. They’ll finish in the top four if they win their final four matches.
Arsenal make two changes to the team that lost at Tottenham. The hare-brained Gabriel drops out of defence after giving away the penalty that led to Harry Kane’s second, meaning Rob Holding comes in, while Arsene Wenger has decided that his Arsenal could do without Olivier Giroud clogging up their attacks with his usual limp target man impersonation. The speedy Danny Welbeck starts against his old team.
Jose Mourinho sticks to his promise to rotate after Manchester United’s win at Celta Vigo on Thursday, but it’s still a strong team. Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly, Daley Blind, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford are rested. David De Gea replaces Sergio Romero in goal and Marouane Fellaini’s suspended. Luckily Mourinho has a large squad. Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, Mourinho’s warrior centre-backs, are fit to start, 19-year-old Axel “Foley” Tuanzebe makes his first ever start at right-back, Michael Carrick replaces Fellaini, and Anthony Martial and Juan Mata are part of a jinking attacking trio behind novelty act Wayne Rooney.
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Team news
Arsenal: Cech; Holding, Koscielny, Monreal; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xhaka, Ramsey, Gibbs; Ozil, Welbeck, Sanchez. Subs: Ospina, Bellerin, Gabriel, Iwobi, Coquelin, Giroud, Walcott.
Manchester United: De Gea; Tuenzebe, Smalling, Jones, Darmian; Carrick, Herrera; Mata, Mkhitaryan, Martial; Rooney. Subs: Romero, Bailly, Blind, Lingard, Rashford, Pogba, McTominay.
Referee: Andre Marriner.
Preamble
Arsenal versus Manchester United. Patrick Vieira versus Roy Keane. Marc Overmars’s winning goal. Peter Schmeichel saving Dennis Bergkamp’s penalty at Villa Park. Ryan Giggs’s hairy chest. 6-1. Wiltoooooooooooorrrrrrdddddddd. Ruud van Nistelrooy’s penalty miss; Martin Keown’s sporting reaction. Wayne Rooney’s dive; Cesc Fabregas introducing Sir Alex Ferguson to a tray of pizza in the Old Trafford tunnel. Suffice to say, there’s no shortage of history when it comes to this fixture.
That’s because it used to be the Premier League fixture. Not any more, however, at least not for the time being. Today it’s just a match between the fifth and sixth best teams in England, and what’s the reason for everyone to get all worked up about that? Things aren’t as they were. Blackburn Rovers are a League One side. Tottenham Hotspur are the kings of North London. Jose Mourinho isn’t bothering to tweak Arsene Wenger’s nipples any more.
Sadly for Wenger, Mourinho has bigger things to worry about than winding up his old sparring partner. Just as Sir Alex Ferguson eased off the enmity with Wenger once he realised that the Frenchman was no longer a threat to his ambitions, so too has Mourinho trained his sights elsewhere. For while there are tantalising hints that United might be heading in the right direction, with their ongoing Europa League run alleviating the likelihood of them finishing outside the Champions League spots, Arsenal are locked into their mediocrity and it’s likely to remain that way until Wenger leaves. Last week’s defeat at White Hart Lane deepened the sense of gloom and decay at the Emirates. It’s been a fortnight since Arsenal reached the FA Cup final with victory over Manchester City, but that win looks like an outlier after the performance at Tottenham. Nine points off fourth, their long record of Champions League qualification is under severe threat. Fail to win today and their top-four hopes will be all but over. It wouldn’t be the worst time for Wenger to mastermind his first ever league win over Mourinho.
Kick-off: 4pm BST.
