Gavin Cooney

THIS WAS A frenetic if low-quality Premier League opener in which the post-mortem will be kinder to the losers. 

Yes, this was a barely believable 15th Premier League defeat from 28 games for Ruben Amorim – and a 12th without scoring – but new signings Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo brought a spark and directness while the whole team looked to be finally snapped from their awful lethargy. 

Their 22 shots was the fifth-highest league total of the Amorim reign, while we also finally saw some upside of the manager’s dogma: his 3-4-3 system had enough width to seriously discomfit Arsenal, especially in the first half. 

There are some areas of concern for United – Cunha and later Amad managed to run directly into a dribbling Mbuemo’s path so frequently as to suggest a systemic issue rather than carelessness from both – but today they lost because of their endemic squad problems. 

Andre Onana was excluded but the promoted Altay Bayindir is no better, and his feeble claw at Declan Rice’s corner that ultimately settled the game. This is not a sudden weakness in Bayindir’s game: he conceded directly from a corner against Spurs last season, but United’s resources are now limited and they are choosing to build their team from front to back. 

There are also chronic midfield issues that cannot be solved without spending: Casemiro plodded about adequately for an hour, and it was United’s misfortune that, toward the endgame, the ball fell so often to the apparently cloven feet of Manuel Ugarte. The damage done by Erik ten Hag will take some time yet to salvage. 

For Arsenal, this was a classical victory: a 1-0 win thanks to a set-piece goal. It was a performance, however, to raise anxieties as to whether they are really ready to take the final step up the podium. 

The scoreline wasn’t all that was familiar. Arsenal had another two shots on target outside of Calafiori’s nod-in goal and didn’t truly trouble Bayindir from open play at all, with their admirable late defensive stand again key in securing victory. 

This relatively meagre attacking output hasn’t been good enough under Arteta to date and may not be enough again this season, especially with Man City looking rejuvenated and Liverpool wobbly but nonetheless top-heavy. 

The area in which Arsenal most miserably compared to Liverpool last season was their efficiency on counter-attacks, and while United offered them ample counter-attacking chances this afternoon, they butchered them all. 

This draws uncomfortable attention to Viktor Gyokeres, whose style is based largely about thriving amid the open, elastic game in which he had just made his debut. Instead he struggled, failing to register a single shot before being hooked on the hour mark for Kai Havertz. He will improve, of course, though he is likely shouldering too great a burden of expectation. 

Mikel Arteta was asked by Sky Sports ahead of the game whether Gyokeres was “the final piece of the jigsaw”, but the presenter is looking at the wrong puzzle. Arsenal’s problem last season was not one of finishing, but one of creation: their xG total of 60 was just the sixth-highest in the Premier League last season, and was fully 22 worse than Liverpool’s. 

This was another game to throw light on Arsenal’s increasingly bizarre refusal to enhance the left side of their attack, with Gabriel Martinelli offering little once again, while substitute Noni Madueke offered nothing at all, albeit playing in a team in full-on defensive mode. 

While it’s early to judge Martin Zubimendi, his signing has made Declan Rice’s relocation to left-sided eight permanent, from where the English international was anonymous. Rice has enormous qualities when the opposition have the ball, hence his £105 million valuation when he played in defensive midfield. Were Arsenal to spend the equivalent figure today on someone playing Rice’s new position, they could do much, much better from a creative point of view. With inflation, they’d only have been a few million quid from getting Florian Wirtz, for instance. 

Any further signings for Arsenal this season are apparently contingent on selling players, but on this evidence, they need to start making those moves before the end of August.