4 Things We Learned From Arsenal’s 1-1 Draw With Manchester United

Arsenal drew 1-1 with Manchester United at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon. Here, Arsenal writer ‘Gunner333’ looks at 4 things we can learn from the game.

Arsenal welcomed the newly-crowned champions Manchester United to the Emirates with the hope of pulling off an unlikely victory to boost their chances of a top four finish. Former Gunner Van Persie returned to his old home looking to get on the score sheet once again, after a decisive hat-trick against Villa last Monday.

The atmosphere was tense with the North London club desperate to beat their rivals and that looked very possible when Theo Walcott was picked out by Tomas Rosicky and the Englishman fired home after just 3 minutes. Although there were questions of the goal being offside.

There was then an appeal from Arsenal fans for a red card to be given to Van Persie when the striker made a clumsy challenge on Mertesacker, but only a yellow was awarded. A massive blow was felt by Arsenal when Bacary Sagna took down Van Persie in the box and referee Phil Dowd had no choice but to award a penalty. The ex-Gunner placed the ball on the spot and cooly converted to level the score just before half time.

Both teams looked threatening in the second half. Rosicky and Cazorla had strikes from distance, whilst Giggs had a late chance at the other end. No winner though and the game finished a draw. Here are 4 things we can learn from our game with Manchester United.

1. We must stop inviting late pressure

Despite some great results recently we are still looking nervy in the last few moments of games. Stray passes from our midfield often allow the opposition to break and create a last gasp chance or two which puts us under immense pressure. They may not have been converted frequently, but one day we will pay the price in a big game. We need to learn how to see out games better.

2. Our work-rate is excellent

When you are a top Premier League club, you know how tiring the campaign can be. After all it’s a marathon, not a sprint. This means certain clubs will have better fitness levels at different stages of the season. However, I feel Arsenal have one of the fittest squads around and that possibly explains why we have been scoring a lot of second half goals this season. But our work rate was excellent throughout against United, with the likes of Aaron Ramsey putting in a real shift. We pressed from the first minute today and we need to ensure we keep this kind of energy in the remaining three games.

3. The need for a magic man…

In the previous season we relied heavily on Van Persie to carry us home and without him there’s no doubt we would have missed out on Champions League football. But this season we have coped reasonably well without a main man and have looked like much more of a team rather than a one-man show. Surely if we play like this next season and sign a top quality striker, perhaps silverware would be in sight…

4. Crowd play an important part

Whether at home or away, we can always rely on the Gooners to back the team until the very end. As we hunted down a late winner against the Champions there certainly seemed to be some vocal support from the crowd which can only help boost the players on the pitch. Let’s really get behind the boys over the next three games and help them over the finish line.

You can watch the goals again here, and see player ratings from the game here.

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