Man United vs Arsenal Match Review and Player Ratings – Premier League 2025/26 | OneFootball

The Man United vs Arsenal match review: the first heavyweight clash of the brand new Premier League season was decided narrowly on paper as Altay Bayindir’s error handed Riccardo Calafiori an easy tap-in to hand Arsenal a 1-0 victory over the arch rivals Manchester United. But in terms of performance, there was a daylight between the two sides, as Ruben Amorim’s team played on the front foot and dominated the possession from the word go till the end, with Arsenal barely offering anything going forward for the entirety of the match.

Key Events & Stats:

Manchester United started the game in promising fashion with their crisp and quick build-up imposing a decent amount of threat on Arsenal early on. But all that pressure evaporated in the 12th minute as Declan Rice’s inswinging corner into the six-yard box caused chaos. With Saliba slightly nudging Bayindir off his comfort zone, the latter threw an underwhelming, flailing hand on the ball. And the ball fell kindly to Calafiori, who was on his own at the far post to tap it in the United net.

Manchester United responded to the goal with good intent and their new signings Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo in particular wove and threaded neat combinations with Mount to produce a decent amount of final-third entries but United lacked the decisive pass or touch in the final third as the first half finished with United having 56% possession against Arsenal’s 44% possession and United having thrice as many attempts on goal as Arsenal.

In the second half, United created more and more chances with Cunha and Mbeumo getting closer and closer to the goal and Dorgu came ever so closer to netting as his shot from the edge of the box skimmed the post of Arsenal. As Arsenal continued to settle for letting United have lots of possession, Arteta took off Gyokeres, who had quite a timid debut.

On the other hand, Amorim also introduced Benjamin Sesko in the last half hour of the match but United failed to get him involved. The match finished with United registering 22 shots to the lowly 9 shots by Arsenal. That is ironically more shots for United than in the game where they thumped Arsenal 8-2 back in 2011. But Arsenal managed to ride the storm yesterday and grinded out all three important points to kick off their season.

Tactical Takeaways:

Ruben Amorim coached a great game, as one of the key tactical ideas he employed was to overload the right-hand side with Yoro advancing from the right central back position, combining play with Dalot, Casemiro and Mbeumo outnumbering Martinelli, Calafiori and Declan Rice on United’s right-hand side. So after overloading the right side, United often switched to the left side, with Dorgu often making bombarding runs on the left, having plenty of space there. Another theme employed by United was to invite Arsenal to press high but Gyokeres’ pressing intensity was not as high as Arteta wanted it to be.

It led to United often playing through the high press of United with the X-factor of Cunha’s extraordinary ball-carrying quality. United, although they did lack chemistry in the final third. Another flaw of Amorim’s team on the day was there were not enough numbers whenever United had the opportunity to counter. And this largely owes to Amorim’s five-at-the-back system out of possession. With five defenders and two midfielders committed deep whilst defending, there will always be fewer players upfront to develop a counter in this system. And it was the theme throughout the match.

Arsenal seemed content to let United have the majority of the ball so as to show their solidity at the back. But their fans would like more control of the game when defending a 1-goal lead. Arsenal also lacked width with Saka subdued and Arsenal’s left-hand side getting out-pressed by aggressive out-of-possession tactics by Amorim. It meant that Arsenal had no outlet except to go long to Gyokeres, who got outmuscled by De Ligt in the majority of the duels.

Player Ratings – Manchester United:

Altay Bayindir: 4 – Although his on-ball composure and long balls were good, he had a major blunder, handing Arsenal the deciding goal.

Leny Yoro: 6.5 – He was commanding both in and out of the ball.

De Ligt: 7 – Dominated his duels, made a last-ditch tackle on Saka in the closing moments of the match. Was superb

Shaw: 7 – Shaw had pretty average games marking Saka in the past, but he managed to keep Saka quiet

Dalot : 6.5 – Had a fairly easy game one-on-one vs Martinelli and combined well with Mbeumo on right side

Dorgu: 7.5 – Provided bombarding runs up and down the pitch, came so so close to get the equaliser for United

Casemiro: 6.5 – Was pretty solid, rarely got caught out of possession

Bruno Fernandes: 5.5 – Had a bang average game by his high standards, didn’t create anything and was also guilty of giving away the corner which resulted in the Arsenal goal.

Mbeumo: 7.5 – Was superb with his creativity and offered United a potent threat throughout. Although he was wasteful in the final third

Cunha: 8.5 – Ran the show for Man United with his neat passing but, more importantly, his marauding runs with the ball to split Arsenal through the center

Mount: 7.5 – Although being played out of possession, did combine fairly well with Cunha and Mbeumo

Player Ratings – Arsenal:

Raya: 8 – Was superb with his crucial saves as well as commanding the box on set pieces

White: 5.5 – Got caught out of possession few times and barely offered anything going forward

Saliba: 7.5 – Was a rock at the back, handled tough situations fairly well

Gabriel: 7.5 – Was as good his center back partner

Calafiori: 6.5 – Despite scoring the goal, has a tough time versus both Mbeumo and Amad

Zubimendi: 6 – Failed to set the tempo in midfield for Arsenal

Rice: 6 – Wasn’t his best day at the office, as he also failed to provide Arsenal the control

Odegaard: 6 – Quite an underwhelming performance

Saka: 4.5 – Was outplayed by Shaw

Gyokeres: 4 – Had a nervous debut, got pocketed by De Ligt. Didn’t provide the necessary pressing intensity out of possession

Martinelli: 4 – Was poor with his decision-making and was mediocre on and off the ball

Man of the Match:

Matheus Cunha, despite being on the losing side, was the best player on the pitch by a mile. He was the heartbeat of every United attack, always probing and running at defenders whilst combining extremely well with Mount and Mbeumo. He ran the show for Man United and nearly scored an early contender for the goal of the season.

Man United vs Arsenal Match Review Final Thoughts:

Arsenal, despite being far from their best, showed grit and discipline to see off United, who finished matchweek 1 at 15th position – the same doomed place where they finished the last season. Manchester United will travel to Fulham at the coming weekend, while Arsenal will host the newly promoted Leeds United in match-week two.