arsenal
- The manager claims important decisions were made to the detriment of Manchester United
- The £105million midfielder is happy to keep his eyes on Manchester City
Declan Rice described Arsenal’s dramatic 3-1 win over Manchester United as a “must win” for their title hopes, even at this early stage of the season as they struggle to keep up with confident Manchester City.
Arsenal prevailed against the visitors in stoppage time, Rice scored the decisive second goal in the 96th minute and Gabriel Jesus equalized with the last decisive action. It sparked wild celebrations around the Emirates Stadium and a sombre mood for Erik ten Hag, who said United had been robbed by a series of decisions that had tipped the game against them.
Declan Rice’s late goal gives Arsenal a dramatic win over Manchester United
Rice celebrated after a deflected strike broke his Arsenal duck and beat André Onana to effectively win a game that threatened to tip either way. “I think if we’re honest, Man City have won four out of four games,” he said.
“If we hadn’t won today we would have been five points behind. Winning today was a must. Start with [three] Wins and a draw are good.”
It was probably just a reward for Arsenal, whose performance was assertive if often inaccurate, but Ten Hag ticked off a list of decisions that angered him. He felt Kai Havertz should have been booked for falling after an Arsenal penalty was overturned by the video referee early in the second half, and felt United should have scored a penalty themselves after Gabriel Magalhães with wrestled against substitute Rasmus Højlund.
The United manager also said that VAR made the wrong decision when an apparent winner from Alejandro Garnacho just before Rice’s decisive strike was ruled out for offside; To complete the litany, he said Gabriel obstructed Jonny Evans as the ball was sent to Rice to convert.
Declan Rice celebrates with Mikel Arteta at the final whistle. Photo: Kieran McManus/Shutterstock
“Let’s start with the penalty awarded but rejected. Anyone can see that it is a simulation, but they have not been warned for it,” he said. “Then the foul on Højlund in the penalty area and I don’t think it was even noticed by the VAR. Then the disallowed goal from Garnacho. I think they looked from the wrong angle and it’s upside down. Then the final goal. How can they allow this? It’s a clear and obvious foul on Jonny Evans, otherwise he would have blocked Declan Rice’s shot. So it’s a lot.”
Ten Hag described United’s performance as “right” and their attitude as “what we need”, but they have now lost two of their four games and, crucially, lost nine of their last 11 away games to teams in the top 10. He had named a bench with an attacking threat in mind and said Jadon Sancho, conspicuous by his absence, was ready to play.
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“Jadon, we didn’t select him because of his performance in training,” he said. “At Manchester United you have to reach a certain level every day and we can make decisions at the front line. That’s why he wasn’t selected for this game.”
Mikel Arteta said Arsenal’s late heroics were a moment that “will stay with us”. The only negative comment that caught his eye was the news that Thomas Partey, who missed the game, will be “out for weeks” with a groin injury.
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