Manchester United came into the game knowing that they needed a win against Arsenal. Otherwise, if the Gunners won, they would have fallen eight points behind in the top four race as well. But following their 3-2 win over Mikel Arteta’s side, they are well and truly back in the mix and things are starting to look up for the Red Devils as well.
Arsenal opened the scoring early on but then Manchester United scored equalised just before the break through Bruno Fernandes. Cristiano Ronaldo gave the hosts the lead early in the second half but the Gunners replied back quickly.
Ultimately, it was a 70th minute penalty kick from Ronaldo that turned out to be the winner in this game.
Following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s departure, the Red Devils have won twice and drawn once, with all three being difficult games. Thus, there are renewed hopes that they can turn their season around.
Manchester United vs Arsenal: 3 things we learned
Here are three things we learned from Manchester United’s huge 3-2 win against Arsenal, to hand a boost to their Premier League top four hopes:
Ronaldo proves to be the difference again
Ronaldo was left on the bench against Chelsea and on that occasion, that proved to be the right decision.
This time around though, he was back in the starting XI and proved why he is still a big part of this Manchester United team, scoring a brace against an in-form Arsenal side, including the winner, thus proving to be the difference maker once again.
There has been a lot of speculation about how Ronaldo would fit into Ralf Rangnick’s plans and whether he is the right fit for the German’s intense pressing style of football.
The Portuguese superstar has proven people wrong numerous times throughout his career though and this might be another big opportunity for him to do so.