Gavin Cooney

ARSENAL REMAIN FOUR points clear at the top and in the enviable position but these cold facts are at odds with the emotions threatening to swallow the Emirates Stadium whole. 

The atmosphere at the end of the recent goalless draw with Liverpool was near-funereal, and it was equally mute at the end of this stunning defeat to Manchester United. Throughout the game the Emirates vibe was edgy and impatient and stressed, but then the supporters were merely transmitting back to the pitch what they received from their players.

Arsenal can point to the fact that United’s second-half goals were a pair of one-in-a-hundred worldies, but they should also acknowledge that they left themselves prey to bad luck by ceding control of this game in the first half while wasting most of the second half with more utterly sterile excuses for attack, busying themselves by shuffling about in the positions accredited to them by Mikel Arteta. 

Much of today’s game followed the same cadence as that draw against Liverpool: Arsenal played well in the first 20 minutes before then slowly withdrawing from the game, until they launched a late set piece onslaught that should have come much earlier. United, unlike Liverpool, had players ready and willing to shoot, and so Arsenal were undone in spectacular fashion. 

Arsenal took the lead with a fortunate own goal but seemed determined to hand back to the Gods that piece of luck, and they conspired to give United two presentable chances for an equaliser until Martin Zubimendi made sure of it with a daft back-pass to Bryan Mbeumo.

Arsenal showed nothing immediate in response and United could instead stretch their legs and realise that the weather was much more mild than forecast. Arsenal’s stupor continued after half-time and not even Patrick Dorgu’s rocket nor Arteta’s 58th-minute quadruple sub startled them awake.

They continued to play at a pedestrian pace while windmilling their arms at supporters to spark some atmosphere, seemingly still oblivious to the fact that they could also kindle some noise by choosing to attack more directly. Instead the Arsenal players assiduously eddied about to fill their dictated roles, with which the crowd had no truck. Ben White was the target of thousands of urgent grumbles of exasperation over how long he took on throw ins, while Eberechi Eze was upbraided when he slowed one attack to a standstill to allow his team mates assume their positions. 

Arsenal went from the 18th to the 70th minute of this game without a shot on target, content instead to horsehoe around in front of the United defence, giving the impression they were aiming to win a set piece rather than go directly for goal. 

We can safely say now that Arteta’s blizzard of summer business has not added anything of difference to the Arsenal team, but merely allows him to execute his choreographed plan with fresher actors. Hence when Eze arrived, Odegaard departed: presumably having two playmakers in midfield at the same time would be taking too great a risk. Viktor Gyokeres meanwhile came on to offer just as little as Gabriel Jesus had before him. 

Arsenal did score an equaliser from a particularly ungainly corner, the otherwise outstanding Senne Lammens trying to claim the ball through too many bodies. But the roars that greeted that were soon shattered to nothing by Cunha’s stunning, curling strike from range. 

Ultimately the result is a parable about the risks of not taking risks.

When Patrick Dorgu was injured in the 81st minute, with United leading 2-1, Michael Carrick chose not to throw on a defensive-minded player like Mazraoui, Malacia, or even Mason Mount, choosing instead to bring on Benjamin Sesko.

This meant Cunha took up Dorgu’s role off the left, which exposed United’s left side to White’s surging runs from deep. This was evident within seconds of Sesko’s arrival, when he took a Bruno pass to the face and Cunha chased the lost-cause rebound in behind the Arsenal defence. Cunha then showed zero interest in sprinting back after White – which earned him an earful from Bruno – who was seen running out to the same wing a few minutes later to cover for more Cunha non-defending.

But sometimes it’s worth gambling, because it’s hard to imagine Mazraoui, Malacia, or Mount slamming in such a spectacular winner. 

Arsenal are hunted at the top, but of more concern is the gnawing sense to be gleaned from the anxious Emirates crowd that they are a little haunted too.

The pressure is on.