Analysis: Arsenal

Arsenal set up in a 4-2-3-1 attacking structure, with Aaron Ramsey as the central number 10 behind Alexandre Lacazette, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang supporting from the right flank. Within Arsenal’s double pivot, Granit Xhaka would drop deeper to the left during their build; this allowed left-back Sead Kolasinac to move higher and support Alex Iwobi.

Ramsey, Lacazette and Aubameyang began by alternating their roles, and often attacked as an asymmetrical unit from the right, which gave Iwobi space to attack Ashley Young one-against-one. Ander Herrera eventually moved across to help Young deal with Iwobi, which in turn saw Ramsey move across to attack the space between Young and United’s right-sided centre-back Eric Bailly.

With Herrera away from the central lane and Paul Pogba not deep enough to help Nemanja Matic cover, dropping movements from Lacazette became a key link for the hosts. Aubameyang could then attack from the right, with blindside runs for cut-backs or in behind at the far post. It was from here that the Gabon captain scored Arsenal’s only goal of the game from Ramsey’s cross late in the first half – sadly for the hosts, they were already two goals down at the time.

Injury to captain Laurent Koscielny – centre-back partner Sokratis had already been replaced by Shkodran Mustafi in the first half – meant Unai Emery had to adapt his formation. Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi were introduced into what became a 4-4-2 structure, with Xhaka dropping alongside Mustafi in the back line. Ozil and Ramsey moved between the lines to support the two wider strikers, but Arsenal struggled to break down United’s compact 4-5-1 defensive block and were unable to find an equaliser.

Out of possession, the hosts initially set up with a deep 4-4-1-1 mid-block, which helped them both deal with aerial balls into Romelu Lukaku and reduce the space in behind for him to run into. Arsenal aggressively pressed the second ball as and when Lukaku looked to connect with his central teammates.

By dropping wide attackers Aubameyang and Iwobi into the midfield four, Arsenal had more security against United’s wider players, with both Lukaku and Sanchez running from in to out and collecting balls down the line. However, this made the hosts less effective during attacking transitions, as their two fastest and most direct dribblers were too deep to penetrate with the ball.

In the end, Arsenal were outdone twice in quick succession by direct transitional play. United’s opener came as the hosts failed to stop Lukaku linking with Sanchez after receiving a long ball, while the second came from intelligent and brave positioning from the forwards to stretch the Arsenal back line both horizontally and vertically. An early pass in behind set Lukaku away, who this time cut back for Jesse Lingard to finish calmly.

Arsenal continued to push their full-backs forward in the second half, but after moving into a 4-4-2 they looked more susceptible to counter-attacks. United’s forward play was far less incisive than it had been in the first half, but the danger was always there and Martial finally sealed the victory for the visitors late on. Arsenal now have only one chance of silverware this season, in the Europa League.