United’s expensively-assembled new forward line draw a blank as Arsenal began title campaign with a tight win at Old Trafford.
Arsenal kept Manchester United’s expensively assembled forward line at bay and scored again from a set piece to win 1-0 at Old Trafford in the marquee match in the opening round of English football’s Premier League.
Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori nodded in from close range in the 13th minute on Sunday after United back-up goalkeeper Altay Bayındır flapped at the ball from a corner whipped in by Declan Rice.
After finishing second for the past three seasons, the pressure is on Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to deliver the club’s first league title since 2003-04.
The Spaniard was left to depend on his reliable defence and goalkeeper David Raya to secure a huge three points as the visitors never fully got going as an attacking force.
United, meanwhile, fell to a loss that is all too familiar under Ruben Amorim following a woeful 15th-place finish last season by the struggling giants of English football.
United spent around 200 million pounds ($270m) on revamping their attack in the preseason, with Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha starting the match and Benjamin Sesko coming off the bench in the second half.
Cunha and Mbeumo unsettled Arsenal’s normally unflappable centre-back pairing of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba early on.
However, United’s good work was undone by a glaring error from Bayindir, who was deputising for Andre Onana.
Patrick Dorgu came closest to a United reply before half-time with a powerful effort from distance that came back off the post.
Mbeumo and Cunha saw tame efforts easily saved by Raya, while the Spaniard did brilliantly to divert another Cunha shot across the face of goal.
Arsenal had held interest in Sesko for well over a year before instead pursuing a move for Viktor Gyokeres as the solution to their need for a number nine. The Swede had a quiet Premier League debut and was replaced before the hour mark by Kai Havertz.
Sesko made his entrance moments later to a hero’s welcome after rejecting the advances of Newcastle for the lure of the 20-time English champions.
United continued to enjoy the better of the play without finding the finish as Mbeumo saw a powerful header expertly clawed out by Raya.
But Arsenal held firm to keep pace with title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, who also won on the opening weekend of the campaign.
Calafiori told Sky Sports after the match that his side have room to improve, despite the win.
“Like always, we were working a lot on our set pieces, and that is what we showed today. We have to improve if possible and keep going,” he said.
“If we want to compete at the high level, we have to be good in every position. My teammates are ready to play, and it is not easy to play every game. The confidence we have inside is going to bring up the level. Hopefully, I play a lot but if not there is another teammate that can play.”
Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes said that while his team played well, they need to be more clinical in front of goal.
“We created lots of chances and didn’t score, so we have to do better next time. We controlled the game well, we were good on the ball,” he told Sky Sports.
“[Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo] created a lot [of opportunities and] they were in the right positions. We know they are dangerous, and they are a threat. We are very aware of what they can give to the team. It was a good first impression for them, but I’m pretty sure they will do much better.”
Elsewhere in the Premier League on Sunday, Chelsea failed to score in their opening league game, as they were held 0-0 by Crystal Palace in the Blues’ first competitive match as the Club World Cup champions.
A month after stunning Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup final, Chelsea toiled at Stamford Bridge after a short preseason because of the team’s exertions in the United States.
Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest hit the ground running with a 3-1 win over Brentford, with striker Chris Wood – the team’s top scorer last season, with 20 goals – netting twice in the first half, on either side of a goal by Dan Ndoye on his debut.
All matches on Sunday featured a period of silence before kickoff as a tribute to Diogo Jota and Andre Silva, the brothers who were killed in a car crash in Spain last month. Jota was a player for Liverpool at the time.
