**Premier League.**
**MANCHESTER UNITED 0**
**ARSENAL 1 (Calafiori 13)**
CLASSIC chants of “one-nil to the Arsenal” cried out this evening (Sunday) after the Gunners escaped Old Trafford with three points to kick-off their new Premier League campaign in perfect fashion.
Riccardo Calafiori’s early header from a Declan Rice corner proved the winner as the north Londoners continued where they left off last term when it comes to dominating from set-pieces.
Afterwards Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta admitted his side “made unusual mistakes”, but said he couldn’t have been prouder of the way his players battled for the win.
“It’s a big, big result,” said the Spaniard. “We were clearly not at our best. We attacked the box, and we reacted well to unusual mistakes.
“We showed a resilience and a will to win. We showed it in a different way. I think we did two things very well: one, to take the set-piece, and then to react to our mistakes.
“The way every single player reacted to that \[the mistakes\] gives us the opportunity to win the game. If not, it’s impossible. And that’s about how we compete and how much we want it as a team. I’m very happy and proud of the team.”
The decisive moment of the match arrived on 13 minutes courtesy of a goalkeeping error. Altay Bayindir, deputising for the absent Andre Onana, failed to deal with Rice’s in-swinging corner, allowing Calafiori to nod home from a yard.
It was one of only three shots that the visitors had on target – all of which came in the opening 45 minutes.
That was despite Arsenal handing £64m summer signing Viktor Gyokeres his Premier League debut. The striker showed glimpses of the pace, power and strength that saw him score 54 goals last season, but ultimately he lacked the match sharpness needed to trouble United.
Arteta pulled the positives from the performance after handing Gyokeres 60 minutes before subbing him for Kai Havertz. “He did a lot of things very good,” said Arteta. “You can tell, especially in our high press and rhythm that we demand, that in the first half we were giving a bit too much time. It is something that we have to work on.
“Then in the final action situation, he did not have that many chances to do that \[run in behind\], because in the previous action, we had to play that last ball and the line was standing still with 40 metres to play.
“We did not manage to put the ball through to exploit his quality. But overall, coming away to Manchester United, winning your first game with Arsenal, is a good start.”
It was at the other end of the pitch that the Gunners won it. A new season that started with a familiar feeling as once again they built a performance on the back of a solid defence.
David Raya needed to be at his best. The shot-stopper put in a man-of-the-match display: the highlights including a smart, low one-handed save to deny Matheus Cuhna, and quick reactions to push away a Bryan Mbeumo header.
United can feel hard done by not to have taken something from the game. Patrick Dorgu rattled the bottom of the post with a thunderous shot in the first half, while in the second period the home side saw calls for a penalty waved away when William Saliba tackled Cunha on the edge of the six-yard box.
**Manchester United:** Bayindir, Yoro, De Ligt, Shaw (Maguire, 80), Dalot (Diallo, 55), Dorgu, Casemiro (Ugarte, 65), Mount (Sesko, 65), Fernandes, Cunha, Mbeumo
**Substitutes not used:** Heaton, Fredricson, Heaven, Mainoo, Zirkzee
**Arsenal:** Raya, White (Timber, 72), Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori (Lewis-Skelly, 72), Zubimendi, Rice (Merino, 83), Odegaard, Saka, Martinelli (Madueke, 60), Gyokeres (Havertz, 60)
**Substitutes not used:** Arrizabalaga, Mosquera, Nwaneri, Trossard