Arsenal FC v Manchester United FC - Premier League
Arsenal punished United after the careless bit of play (Picture: Getty)
Manchester United fans were left fuming with Marcus Rashford’s decision-making after his role in Arsenal’s second goal in the Gunners’ victory at the Emirates on Wednesday night.
Jurrien Timber and William Saliba got on the score sheet to seal a 2-0 win for the hosts, moving them back to within seven points of Premier League leaders Liverpool.
Having honed a reputation as the league’s most dangerous side from set pieces, Arsenal bombarded the visitors from corner picks with Thomas Partey missing a golden opportunity to open the scoring from one in the first-half.
Both Arsenal’s goals came from corners with their deliveries causing constant panic in the United box. But one of those set pieces could perhaps have been prevented.
Pinned in at the corner flag with Martin Odegaard hounding him, Rashford attempted to flick the ball up to volley clear. It didn’t go quite to plan however with the United forward inadvertently knocking the ball straight out of play.
Bukayo Saka’s resulting corner was met by Thomas Partey who nodded across goal for Saliba to score.
Rashford was left out of the starting XI by Ruben Amorim despite scoring twice against Everton, brought off the bench after 59 minutes.
Arsenal FC v Manchester United FC - Premier League
Rashford was brought on as a second-half substitute (Picture: Getty)
But knowing full well how lethal Arsenal are whipping the ball into the box, United fans despaired on social media over how the goal came about.
‘Just conceded from Rashford trying that flick and giving a corner away, so frustrating,’ on X user wrote with another adding ‘what is Rashford doing there? Ridiculous to concede a corner like that.’
‘Arsenal’s only threat has been from corners, Marcus Rashford unnecessarily boots the ball out for an Arsenal corner,’ one United fan bleakly said. ‘They score from corners and Rashford gave them a gift.’
United manager Ruben Amorim meanwhile hailed Arsenal’s threat when asked if they are the best team he has come up against on corners.
Arsenal FC v Manchester United FC - Premier League
Amorim suffered his first defeat as United boss (Picture: Getty)
‘If you follow the Premier League for a long time you can see that,’ Amorim said in his post-match press conference.
‘They are also big players and you see every occasion when (Gabriel) Martinelli and (Bukayo) Saka have one-on-ones, a lot of times they go outside and they cross, and they know that if the cross goes well, they can score, and if it is a corner they can score, too, so we have to be better on that.
‘You have seen in all Arsenal games that every team have had problems with that (corners). And the difference today was the set-pieces.
‘You see a goal and then the momentum changed, and it is really hard for us to take the full control of the game after that.’
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