Manchester United 1-1 Arsenal: Four Things We Learned

Manchester United failed to return to their winning ways in the last match of the Premier League’s round 7, as they drew 1-1 against Arsenal at Old Trafford on Monday night. The Devils opened the scoring in the final minutes of the first half, when Scott McTominay nicely hit the ball from 20 yards to strike it right under the crossbar of Bernd Leno’s goal.

But Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted Bukayo Saka’s assist to equalize after 58 minutes, following Axel Tuanzebe’s mistake in the build-up. Here is what we learned from this clash.

Same Old Boring Stuff

This was a pretty drab encounter. Manchester United and Arsenal are far from where they used to be and the match thoroughly showed that. Both sides were rather unimaginative and if it was not for McTominay’s late goal in the first half, you would not have missed anything in those 45 minutes.

The second half was more open, but the game was still lacking quality, as both sides most tried to be dangerous with shots from distance. Arsenal had one good chance they did not convert, while United were closest after McTominay’s header following a corner.

What Is Andreas Pereira’s Role?

This is a big question and the guess that no one really knows. After his decision to not go on loans anymore, Pereira has been gradually getting more playing time, but we could also point out that this coincided with Man United becoming a worse team. It is now easier for him to get into the team with the lack of quality and options.

But what is that Pereira is good at? What is that he is supposed to offer in this boring team? He is not creating much, he is not doing a lot of defensive work. It is sometimes really hard to point out what he has done during a game, but tonight he was as lively as it gets – he made a couple of shots from tough positions.

Arsenal Too Reliant On Aubameyang

The Gunners have managed to get a point with Aubameyang’s goal and it became once more obvious that Arsenal are becoming more and more reliant on the Gabonese goalscorer. This was his seventh Premier League goal of the campaign, but erase his goals and this is what you get – Lacazette 2 goals, Chambers, Torreira and Pepe all with 1 goal.

Unai Emery should try and find a system that will return Lacazette to his old ways and get the best out of Nicolas Pepe as well.

Serious Lack Of Quality Confirmed Once More

Manchester United remain on five wins in the past six months, since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s official appointment and this match once again showed all the flaws we have been talking about for months. Creativity is non-existent and the Devils are easy to defend against as much as they were in the final months of Jose Mourinho’s reign. There are no outfield players any top Premier League side would pick from this side to put them in their starting lineups. That says enough about this team.

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