Read David Hytner’s match report from the Emirates Stadium:
Full time: Arsenal 1-3 Manchester United
Peep peep! That was a spectacular, ceaselessly entertaining game of football. Arsenal will feel that in a parallel universe they are celebrating a 5-3 victory. Paul Pogba was sent off, Anthony Martial produced one of the flicks of the season, Arsenal played attacking football of the highest class, David De Gea made some astonishing saves... I don’t know where to stop. It was a glorious match.
United have ended Arsenal’s long winning run at the Emirates and move to within five points of Manchester City, who have a tricky match at home to West Ham tomorrow. Thanks for your company, sorry I didn’t get much chance to look at the emails. Night!
Updated
90+3 min Marcus Rashford replaces Ashley Young, who has had a fine game.
90+2 min Ozil’s volleyed cross is spanked into orbit by Ramsey, 10 yards from goal. It was a tricky chance on the turn and he got under it.
90+1 min Five minutes of added time.
90 min Arsenal have another penalty when Smalling slides through Lacazette. There was less in that and Andre Marriner wasn’t interested.
89 min Sanchez and Herrera are booked for a physical exchange of unpleasantries.
88 min Welbeck goes over after a challenge in the area from Darmian. That was a clear foul and should have been a penalty. Welbeck didn’t help himself by getting straight to his feet. I think the referee thought Welbeck slipped, but replays confirmed there was clear contact as he turned back inside Darmian on the right of the area.
Updated
87 min Lukaku bursts past the last man Koscielny, who drags him down and is booked. The distance from goal - 45 yards - saved Koscielny from a red card, though Mourinho is furious. I think it was the right decision.
84 min Ramsey’s cross from a narrow position is headed over by Welbeck. It wasn’t much of a chance. United, down to 10 men, look more comfortable defensively than at any stage in the match. I suppose it helps the defenders know they have an utter genius behind them. I’ve never seen a goalkeeper with better reflexes, and boy have I seen some goalkeepers.
Updated
83 min Welbeck’s deflected long-range shot is tipped over by De Gea, a comfortable save. Arsenal haven’t created much in the last 20 minutes. There’s an argument they have too many cooks - Lacazette, Giroud, Sanchez, Welbeck, Ozil, Iwobi, Henry, Bergkamp, Groves, Hayes, Diawara.
82 min Arsene Wenger is complaining, presumably about timewasting, to the fourth official. This will be a sore one for him if he loses again to Mourinho, especially as his team have played some glorious attacking football.
81 min United should get Rashford on for the lone midfielder/attacker Lukaku, who looks shattered. They can’t get out at all. I think this will end 3-3 you know.
80 min We have exclusive highlights of the first 80 minutes of this match.
78 min Tacticswatch: Arsenal are playing 2-0-8, United have gone for an 8-0-1.
Updated
77 min Arsenal bring on another forward, Olivier Giroud, in place of Kolasinac.
76 min Matteo Darmian replaces Jesse Lingard.
75 min That means Pogba will miss the Manchester City game.
POGBA IS SENT OFF
74 min Paul Pogba lunges at Bellerin and gets a straight red card! Pogba applauds sarcastically but he shouldn’t argue - he put his studs on the ball and then followed through onto Bellerin’s calf. I’m not certain there was malicious intent but his studs went over the ball and that usually means trouble. That said, this MBM is so frenetic that I haven’t had chance to look at it properly, so for all I know he may have set about Bellerin with a crowbar.
Updated
73 min De Gea hasn’t made a save for seven minutes. Wenger out!
72 min Bellerin is booked for a dismal tackle on Young.
71 min “Regardless of the result, I’d say this is the best Arsenal have played in around ten years,” says Andrew Hurley. I know what you mean, certainly going forward. Their defending has been pretty shoddy though.
Updated
70 min Arsenal make a change, with Danny Welbeck replacing Granit Xhaka. Arsenal’s formation is now a vague 4-1-5.
Updated
68 min “It’s only fair to point out how brilliantly officiated this game has been,” says Phil Harrison. “So rarely gets said in reference to great games.”
Yes, good point. It has really flowed and that’s in part down to the referee.
67 min United make a defensive substitution: Ander Herrera replaces Anthony Martial, who had a quiet second half after being the best player in the history of football before half-time.
Updated
66 min Sanchez’s stinging long-range shot is pushed away by De Gea, diving to his right. I can’t keep up with this. De Gea has made enough saves for two or three months.
The move started when Matic played the ball up to Lukaku on the halfway line. He fed it to Lingard, who surged into space and played the ball to Pogba on the right. He moved into the area and danced elegantly around Koscielny, who commited himself unnecessarily, before passing the ball across the face of goal for Lingard to tap into an open net. It was another clinical break from United, though Arsenal’s defending was again less hope.
Updated
GOAL! Arsenal 1-3 Manchester United (Lingard 63)
United sting Arsenal again on the break!
Updated
62 min This game has been so breathlessly end-to-end that it may have introduced the concept of the counter-counter-counter attack.
61 min The BT Sport chaps, Glenn Hoddle and Steve McManaman, reckon Ramsey miscontrolled the ball for Lacazette’s goal. I suspect they’re right. It’s a shame because it would have been an ingenious, counter-intuitive touch.
60 min Matic has a clash of heads with Koscielny, which gives United a bit of a breather.
58 min Rojo is ooked for manhandling Sanchez. The United defenders cannot get a moment’s peace.
56 min David De Gea makes a sensational double save to deny Lacazette and Sanchez. The first was a brilliant, sharp stop as he plunged to his right, and although he couldn’t get to his feet for the rebound he thrust out his right foot to block Sanchez’s close-range follow-up. De Gea is a genius in any language. The first save was so good.
Updated
55 min Both teams have parked the bus - but they’ve done so at the wrong end. The match has been so open from the first minute.
53 min The game lurches to the other end, where Iwobi drills a low shot that is pushed away by the diving De Gea.
52 min Lingard hits the post! This game is turning into an all-time classic. He was put through on goal and hit a shot that was saved by the outstretched right arm of Cech. The ball looped behind him and bounced up onto the far post before Martial’s close-range follow-up hit the back of Monreal on the line.
Updated
Sanchez, on the edge of the area, clipped an excellent pass over a number of defenders to meet Ramsey’s late run. He was clear on De Gea but cushioned the ball backwards to Lacazette, who slammed it into the net. I think Ramsey meant it, and if he did it was a remarkable touch because he was six yards from goal. He may just have miscontrolled it.
Updated
GOAL! Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United (Lacazette 49)
It’s on!
Updated
48 min The second half has started as the first ended, with Arsenal on the attack. United have been unusually ragged defensively, although, as Andrew Hurley points out, much of that is down to Arsenal’s tempo.
47 min “Hugely enjoying this even though I don’t know what I want the result to be,” says Ian Copestake. “Never mind tactics and entertainment and that, I probably think this match is about me.”
46 min Peep peep! United begin the second half. They may well need another goal to win this game.
Half-time Kant
“Charles Antaki’s email inspires a few philosophical comparisons,” says Klaus Yuri Møller-Arentoft. “Sunderland are 7 years into re-enacting Kant’s Critique of Judgement. One of the earliest Bielsistas was Hannah Arendt with The Human Condition. Liverpool’s Premier League era is best described in Nietzsche’s essay On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life.”
Where does Peter Reid’s Premier Passions fit into this? (Warning: video contains locker-room language, etc.)
“Martial best player on the pitch?” sniffs Andrew Hurley. “Sorry, but you need to leave your United hat off. It’s all Arsenal, who have been brilliant since ten minutes.”
I don’t have a United hat. I just have a football hat. I just want football to be winner - and so far it has been!!
Updated
Half time: Arsenal 0-2 Manchester United
That was absolutely brilliant entertainment. A clinical United punished two bad defensive errors early on and were a constant threat on the break, yet for most of the half they were pummelled by Arsenal. This could be any score. I don’t mean at the end of the game, it could be any score now. See you in 10 minutes for the second half.
45+2 min It’s mayhem in the United area! De Gea makes a sensational reflex save to stop Lukaku scoring an own goal. That leads to an almighty scrum that seems to go on forever until Lacazette’s shot is blocked by a defender.
44 min Bellerin hits a fierce rising drive from 25 yards that is pushed away dramatically by De Gea, diving to his right. Moments later, Kolasinac smacks a bouncing shot towards the near post that is again palmed away by the sprawling De Gea.
43 min Martial, the best player on the pitch in this half,. beats Xhaka with ease and teases a dangerous deep cross towards Lukaku. Monreal gets in front of him to head clear.
Updated
42 min A loose ball breaks for Ramsey, who smacks a low shot that is brilliantly blocked by the stretching Matic. That looked a certain goal. This is such an entertaining match. Arsenal could easily be 4-2 up or 4-0 down.
41 min Lacazette smashes the ball at Sanchez, who does brilliantly to chest it back towards Lacazette. He chests it into the area and is denied by Lingard.
36 min Lacazette picks out a good pass for Ozil, whose first-time half-volley from the edge of the box is too close to De Gea.
33 min This is great fun. United break through Pogba, who dances down the right and crosses low towards Lukaku. Kolasinac, on the stretch, diverts it towards his own goal and Cech saves to his right.
32 min Arsenal hit the bar and post in the same attack! A ball from the left deflected nicely to Lacazette, who danced across the six-yard line and hit a low shot that was pushed into the ground by the sprawling De Gea. It bounced up onto crossbar and eventually rebounded to Xhaka, whose curling shot from 12 yards clipped the outside of the post.
Updated
30 min Ozil coaxes it gently over the wall, and Young runs back from behind the wall to head it clear. De Gea probably had it covered anyway but it was good defending from Young.
Updated
29 min Sanchez is fouled just outside the area by Rojo, who might have been booked. The free-kick is to the right of centre, which favours the left-footed Ozil...
28 min Insight department: the next goal is a very big goal.
26 min “Boethius’ only surviving work is The Consolations of Philosophy,” says Charles Antaki. “Presumably a very early Arsenal fan.”
22 min Arsenal have responded pretty well to the shock of going 2-0 down and look pretty threatening going forward. Ramsey’s long-range shot is deflected onto the roof of the net by Lacazette, who was wrongly given offside.
20 min Arsenal almost score from the corner. It wasn’t cleared properly and Xhaka headed the ball down into the six-yard box. Lacazette got the wrong side of Rojo and stretched to make contact a few yards from goal. The ball hit De Gea’s leg, rebounded off Lacazette and drifted just wide of the post.
Updated
19 min Another dangerous United break. Valencia surges down the right and crosses deep to Young, who seems to take the ball down with his arm but gets away with it. No matter, because his shot is blocked. Arsenal launch a counter-counter-attack, which leads to a bit of a scramble in the area before Smalling thighs the ball behind for a corner.
17 min United, with two up front in Lukaku and Martial, look so dangerous on the counter-attack. Lukaku roasts Ramsey on the right and hits a deep cross towards Martial that is headed away by Bellerin.
15 min Arsenal make their change, with Alex Iwobi replacing Mustafi. That means a switch to 4-2-3-1. As clinical as both United’s goals have been, Arsenal were badly at fault for both.
12 min That was Mustafi’s last touch of the game; he’s limping off.
It stemmed from another Arsenal mistake. The last man Mustafi was harried by Lingard, with the ball running to Lukaku 35 yards from goal. He played a cute reverse pass into the area for Martial, who produced a superb, rubber-ankled flick round the corner that allowed Lingard to run clear and clip a first-time shot in off the far post. The touch from Martial in a phonebox-sized space was quite delicious.
Updated
GOAL! Arsenal 0-2 Manchester United (Lingard 11)
Oh my, this is a superb goal.
Updated
8 min Sanchez earns a free-kick 25 yards from goal after slight contact from Smalling. The free-kick is to the left of centre, and Sanchez whacks it into the wall.
7 min “A clip has just been shown of Mourinho answering a question about Matic,” says Charles Antaki. “For all I know the answer was wholly true. But Mourinho has managed the seemingly impossible of solving the ancient Greek paradox of The Liar - namely that whatever he says, he must be disbelieved, even if he confesses to being a liar.”
Updated
5 min That was a bad mistake from Koscielny, bringing to mind that Highbury classic in 1999-2000 when both Roy Keane’s goals came from Arsenal players losing the ball in their own third.
Koscielny, 30 yards from his own goal, played a loose square pass towards Kolasinac that was stolen by Valencia. He played the ball into Pogba, who drew defenders towards him on the edge of the box and poked it back to Valencia. As Monreal came across, Valencia took a touch and rifled a low shot that nutmegged both Monreal and the keeper Cech.
Updated
GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Manchester United (Valencia 4)
It’s there!
Updated
3 min Victor Lindelof is on the right of United’s back three, which puts him up against Alexis Sanchez. You’d expect Arsenal to find Sanchez at every opportunity.
2 min Lingard eases the ball out to Young, whose driven cross is put behind for a corner by Koscielny. Young’s corner skims off the head of Pogba, under pressure from Koscielny, and drifts well wide of the far post.
1 min Peep peep! Arsenal, in red and white, kick off. United are in black.
Pre-match pluggery
Most football autobiographies are largely tedious, because the players have been media trained to within an inch of their personality. Jens Lehmann didn’t get the memo about media training.
Also, this.
Episode 7 is here on @acast join Lee, Rob and @FootballCliches as we talk the backpass law, an underrated Arsenal cup win, the great Barry vs Motty debate and to select our first ever Journeyman Of The Week (get your nominations in) https://t.co/VTtySSNsL8
— Nessun Dorma Podcast (@nessundormapod) November 28, 2017
United have a point to prove tonight. These are their results away to the Big Six under Jose Mourinho: 0-0, 0-4, 0-1, 0-0, 0-2, 1-2, 0-0, 0-1
It’s been a lively afternoon in the Premier League, with Liverpool winning 5-1 at Brighton and West Brom drawing 0-0 with Crystal Palace. You can read all about it here.
Some pre-match reading
The teams
Alexandre Lacazette starts, despite being ruled out of this game on Thursday. So does Nemanja Matic, though Jose Mourinho says he isn’t fully fit.
Arsenal (3-4-2-1) Cech; Koscielny, Mustafi, Monreal; Bellerin, Xhaka, Ramsey, Kolasinac; Ozil, Sanchez; Lacazette.
Substitutes: Ospina, Mertesacker, Coquelin, Iwobi, Wilshere, Giroud, Welbeck.
Manchester United (3-4-1-2) De Gea; Lindelof, Smalling, Rojo; Valencia, Pogba, Matic, Young; Lingard; Lukaku, Martial.
Substitutes: Romero, Darmian, Blind, Mata, Herrera, McTominay, Rashford.
Referee Andre Marriner.
Updated
Preamble
Arsenal v Manchester United has been the fixture of the Premier League era. It’s in a High Flying Birds phase at the moment – the last huge fixture between the teams was probably the Champions League semi-final eight years ago – but it will always be Arsenal v Manchester United, and it will always have extra edge when Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho are the managers.
This is a big day in the north of London – particularly for United, who surely need to win and stay within eight points of Manchester City ahead of next weekend’s meeting. Arsenal’s chance of winning the title has probably gone, yet the Emirates is a pretty happy place just now. They have played some thrilling football this season, particularly at home, and took emphatic care of Spurs two weeks ago. Nothing can top that, but a win over United – and Mourinho - would come pretty close.
Kick off is at 5.30pm.
Updated