It finished with the away end in full voice, roaring a song that has defined decades of Arsenal’s identity. “One-nil to the Arsenal” rolled down from the corner of Old Trafford as the final whistle blew on Sunday afternoon.
The chant was apt. Arsenal’s season opener was no exhibition of control or craft. It was not the sort of statement win some might have expected from last year’s Premier League runners-up against a Manchester United side that staggered through last season in 15th place. Instead, it was something both more precarious and familiar: a narrow, nervy, survival-driven 1-0.
The decisive moment came via Riccardo Calafiori’s close-range header from a corner routine that had been meticulously choreographed on the training ground. But the broader story of Arsenal’s first outing of the new campaign was about more than one set-piece. It was about a side adapting to new methods, a new centre-forward struggling to find rhythm, and a defensive unit under all too familiar pressure.
Most Read on Arsenal Mania
Gyökeres’ muted introduction
A first-choice striker signing tends to arrive with an aura of expectation. Viktor Gyökeres’ summer move from Sporting CP was meant to solve Arsenal’s occasional lack of ruthlessness in the final third. The price was steep, but so was the promise: a striker whose movement, aggression, and hold-up play seemed ideally suited to English football.
Yet Gyökeres’ debut at Old Trafford was an illustration of how adaptation takes time. He ran the channels with intent, and pressed aggressively in moments, but he was a peripheral figure when it mattered most.
Arsenal managed just three shots on target all game. Their xG from open play was a measly 0.29 – a figure that spoke to Gyökeres’ lack of involvement in the areas where he is meant to make a difference. Time and again, he found himself stranded, gesturing for passes that never came, or trying to combine with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli only for the attack to break down.
Troy Deeney,speaking to talkSPORT, was blunt: “Gyökeres, for me, isn’t the answer. I know he’s only one game in, and people will say he’s rusty, but if you look at his movement, the way he was running. There was an incident when he went through one against one and stood on the ball”.
Arteta, more diplomatic, acknowledged his team struggled with acclimatising to Gyökeres’ strengths inhis post-match press conference. “I think there were seven, eight situations when the ball is completely open to play through and we are on, and we’re attacking the keeper”. He went on to say that his new striker “did a lot of things very good” clearly calling for time and patience with this adjustment period.
The reality was simple: this was not a game built to showcase Gyökeres’ strengths. Arsenal barely held the ball long enough to feed him, and when they did, their passing was so imprecise that he was starved of the quick, early service he thrives on.
A faster Arsenal, but a flawed Arsenal
The lack of fluency in attack was not just about Gyökeres. It was a symptom of a bigger shift.
Arsenal entered the season intent on playing faster. The data backs it up: they moved the ball at 2.02 metres per second, which is 55% quicker than their average across the previous three campaigns under Arteta. The change was clear from the start: fewer sideways passes, more early balls into space, and more attempts to release the wide players or find Gyökeres quickly.
When it worked, it created a sense of vertical momentum. When it didn’t, it created chaos – often at Arsenal’s expense.
United had 63% possession, recorded 22 shots (7 of which were on target), and routinely found gaps in the wide areas. Calafiori’s role was instructive: when the Italian stepped forward to support attacks, space opened up behind him, and Bryan Mbuemo repeatedly darted into it. William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhães covered with their usual assurance, but there were moments in the first half when Arsenal looked more vulnerable than they would have liked.
The passing statistics told their own story. Arsenal finished with a 75% accuracy, their lowest in the league since September 2024’s 2-2 draw at Manchester City – a game in which they played half of it with ten men. For context, last season they averaged 89%. The gulf was not down to one bad day; it was a byproduct of playing faster, more risk-laden football.
Bukayo Sakaadmitted as much after the game. “It was not a great performance”, he said. “We were not up to our usual standards, the basics, sloppy giveaways. Our decision making was not great and that cost us and gave United a lot of momentum. We didn’t get punished for it, but we can’t do it every game”.
The promise of this new style is clear. But Sunday showed the pain of transition.
Corners, keepers, and the decisive moment
Where Arsenal were chaotic in open play, they were composed in one crucial area: set-pieces.
The work has been visible for over two years, but it continues to evolve. Since the start of the 2023/24 season, Arsenal have scored 31 goals from corners – 11 more than any other side in the Premier League.
Their latest routine debuted in the Premier League on Sunday but has been a work in progress during pre-season. Five players were stationed on the edge of the area, delaying their runs until Declan Rice’s inswinging delivery forced United’s defenders to hesitate between tracking their runs or holding position. In that hesitation, chaos unfolded. Calafiori peeled off to the back post, quicker to react than Patrick Dorgu, and nodded into the net from close range.
It was the sort of goal Arsenal supporters have come to expect from Arteta’s side: rehearsed, rehearsed again, and executed with precision. What it lacked in artistry it made up for in ruthlessness.
United’s goalkeeper, Altay Bayındır, looked culpable. Under minimal pressure from William Saliba, he flapped at the delivery, leaving his defence exposed. At the other end, David Raya showed precisely how those moments should be handled: climbing above Matthijs de Ligt to punch clear from an almost identical ball.
The tale of the game could be written through the goalkeepers. One decisive, commanding, and calm. The other uncertain, tentative, and punished.
Old Trafford and the familiar grind
If there was something new about Arsenal’s style, there was something very old about the scoreline. All six of Arsenal’s victories at Old Trafford in the Premier League have finished 1-0.
This was no exception. Arsenal retreated into themselves for much of the second half, surviving waves of United pressure. They rarely threatened a second goal. Gyökeres cut an isolated figure, Martin Ødegaard mishit passes he usually caresses, and Saka lost the majority of his duels against Luke Shaw.
But Arsenal endured. Saliba and Gabriel blocked, intercepted, and cleared with conviction – with Raya commanding his box behind them. For all the sloppiness, Arsenal looked like a side unwilling to give the game away.
When the final whistle went, the release was audible. The away end erupted, their chant echoing across a stadium that has seen so many Arsenal failures. “1-0 to the Arsenal”. It was not pretty, but it was familiar, and it was enough.
Where does this leave Arsenal?
The story of Arsenal’s opening day was paradoxical. On the one hand, they won again at Old Trafford, kept another clean sheet, and started the season with three points. On the other, they looked disjointed, vulnerable, and at times overwhelmed.
The shift to a faster style is bold, but it comes at a cost: control. Their passing, once their greatest strength, suddenly looks fragile. Their striker, so dominant in Portugal, looked peripheral here. Their defensive balance wobbled when Calafiori advanced.
And yet, Arsenal found a way. Through a set-piece routine devised by the influential Nicolas Jover. Through a goalkeeper at the top of his game. Through grit, resilience, and the ability to absorb pressure.
Arteta called it“a big, big result”. He knows the importance that this win gives the team starting a new campaign with high expectations. But if Arsenal are to sustain a title challenge, they will need more than corner routines and chants of old glories. They will need Gyökeres integrated, the midfield sharper, and the balance between speed and control recalibrated.
For now, though, Arsenal fans can savour the old refrain. One-nil to the Arsenal, again.