Premier League: A strong Man United lose campaign opener to Arsenal 1-0

MANCHESTER: A header from Riccardo Calafiori helped Arsenal go past Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford, despite the Ruben Amorim-managed side looking much better on the field.

During this high-octane clash at Old Trafford, three attacking players, Matheus Cuhna, Bryan Mbeumo, and Benjamin Sesko made their debuts for the Red Devils on Sunday.

The game’s outcome came down to a goalkeeping error as Altay Bayindir, occupying the nets in place of an absent Andre Onana, failed to deal with a corner from Declan Rice, allowing Calafiori to put the header into the nets in the 13th minute of the match.

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David Raya also looked at his best, keeping out Cunha and Mbeumo away from scoring on their debuts. Late in the first half, the goalie made a low, one-handed save to protect Mbeumo’s attempt from reaching the net by fingertips. Cunha also put in some fine effort, but it was well handled by Raya.

A thunderous shot from Patrick Dorgu rattled the bottom of the goal post, and Manchester United continued to look for an equaliser in the second half as Arsenal looked behind their opponents in terms of overall game despite their lead. Another effort from Mbeumo after a cross from Dorgu was met with a spectacular save.

The Gunners did not register any shots on the target during the second half and registered just four overall. Martin Odegaard shot from a close range in the first half, while Rice’s free kick deflected behind for a corner.

Speaking after the match, United manager Amorim said, as quoted by Sky Sports, that he was proud of his team’s bravery. “Congratulations for the performance, but not congratulations [for the result] because we lost the game at home. We clearly deserved a different result, and we need to move forward to the next one. We were more aggressive than last year, we sprinted more, we were braver, we went one against one for the whole game, and we pressed high,” he said.

He continued saying that the team has quality, and the best part was, “they were not boring”. “We need to win games but that was a completely different game to last season”, he concluded. (ANI)