Mikel Arteta appeared to be smiling and received congratulations from Erik ten Hag when they met amidst the noise of Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester United’s home ground.
Arsenal visit to test their courage against the Red Devils, Sunday (12/5/24) starting at 22.30 WIB. The final result of the match was one goal without reply for the Gunners.
How important this match is for Arsenal, because this is one of the last two matches in the Premier League that must be won.
With this victory, Arsenal won the full 3 points to collect a total of 86 points, one point ahead of Manchester City who have 85 points with their 37th match remaining against Tottenham Hotspur, Wednesday morning WIB.
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If Spurs manage to beat The Citizen or play a draw and Arsenal win their last match against Everton at the Emirates Stadium in London, then Arsenal will win the Premier League championship trophy after 20 years of fasting.
Arsenal last won the Premier League championship trophy in the 2003-2004 season under manager Arsen Wenger.
However, this scenario is not easy because currently Pep Guardiola’s troops are ready to fight to secure their remaining two matches.
Facing Tottenham Hotspur in London is a winning target for the City squad, there is no other way. Before they also secured their final match at the Etihad Stadium when they hosted West Ham United.
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If Manchester City manages to win in these two matches, Pep Guardiola will succeed in making history by winning the Ptemier League title 4 years in a row.
Arsenal’s Test of Courage at Old Trafford
The observers’ predictions turned out to be correct, Manchester United put up tough resistance against their guests, Arsenal in the match which took place at Old Trafford.
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Even though the Red Devils ultimately lost 0-1 to Arsenal, the play of Erik ten Hag’s squad was very impressive as they continued to put pressure on Arsenal’s defense.
Manchester United has a superior possession of the ball by 54 percent. A total of 14 shooting opportunities compared to Arsenal who only had 11 shooting opportunities.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta after the match expressed his joy to Sky Sports (12/5/24):
“We know how difficult it is, that’s why we’ve only won twice in 21 games here. We started the game very well, the goal influenced us with the things we have to do on the ball.”
Arteta also admitted that in the second half he deliberately played safe so he started losing the ball. However, Arsenal’s defense was good enough to prevent the Red Devils’ attackers from being able to break into David Raya’s goal.
“We’re very happy to win, especially what we did in the second half. That’s another step the team has to take, to be more dominant. But it was a big gamble today.” Arteta added as reported by Skysports.
The differentiator in the match was Leandro Trossard who scored the decisive goal in the 20th minute when Kai Havertz took advantage of Andre Onana’s blunder pass which was intercepted to provide Trossard with an assist.
The goal came from the Belgian player’s simple finish, a touch of his foot found Andre Onana’s goal.
With this defeat Manchester United remain eighth in the standings and three points adrift of Chelsea and Newcastle United just above them with a game in hand.
In this tense match, Erik ten Hag had Onana to thank for his saving performance in the final minutes to thwart Gabriel Martinelli and Declan Rice.
Those were Arsenal’s two golden opportunities which could have been additional goals. Andre Onana made a brilliant save to prevent his goal from being conceded.
Havertz and Trossard in this match should be decisive figures for Arsenal. Trossard played more than just a role in Arsenal’s title race.
This goal was his 12th goal in the Premier League this season. Three of his last four games have seen the Gunners take a 1-0 lead, showing just how important Trossard is to Arsenal.
This goal was also very crucial in Arsenal’s pursuit of the title. Apart from Trossard, Kai Havertz has also played a very important role so far for the Gunners.
Harvetz, who has scored and provided assists in a total of 14 goals in the Premier League since the start of 2024, has apparently surpassed the previous highest number in one year in the competition with Chelsea in 2022 with 13 goals.
There is only one step left for Arsenal to win the title for this season, namely winning over Everton in their last match and we hope that Manchester City will win from Spurs or West Ham United, their remaining two matches.
ASL
