“Excellent” Arsenal were unlucky against Man Utd, admits ex-Red Devil…but Martinelli goal was right to be disallowed

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Former Manchester United midfielder Luke Chadwick admits that Arsenal were unlucky after an excellent performance at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Despite the strong rivalry between these two clubs, Chadwick couldn’t help but praise the gunners for dominating possession and giving a good account of themselves despite losing 3-1 to his old club Man Utd.

Gabriel Martinelli saw a goal disallowed early on, but United eventually came out on top with a debut goal from Antony and a second-half brace from Marcus Rashford.

Chadwick feels it was just about the right call for VAR to chalk off the Martinelli goal, but generally feels that things didn’t quite go Arsenal’s way in this game, with some key players either missing or not fully fit.

“I thought there were spells in the game where Arsenal were excellent – they controlled the tempo and had the lion’s share of possession throughout the game. I think it was 61% they ended up with, so they were a bit unlucky,” Chadwick told CaughtOffside.

Gabriel Jesus shone up front despite Arsenal’s defeat

“With the Martinelli goal, it probably was a foul, but I was surprised at how far back they pulled it. It was probably the correct decision though.

“Arsenal had a few injuries, Thomas Partey was out, and there were question marks about players like Odegaard and Zinchenko being fully fit.

“Gabriel Jesus was incredible up front, all his performance was missing was a goal. It was about as good a performance as you’ll see from a lone striker, up against two very experienced centre-backs. He’s not the biggest, but he works hard and holds the ball up really well.

“I think Arsenal have got a good team there. I think if they’d had Partey there, they’d have had a lot more on the day, but it’s a strong squad Arteta’s put together. Saka and Martinelli are always a handful, Zinchenko’s sort of come in and played a dual role of left-back and midfield, which gives them a bit of a Manchester City look to them.

“I think they were very impressive and they’ll challenge for a Champions League place. From that point of view, it’s encouraging for United because they put in a good performance to get the three points. I think Arsenal put in a better performance than Liverpool did at Old Trafford a few weeks back, so it wasn’t an easy win for United.

“The changes from Arteta did make Arsenal a bit weaker and it gave United the impetus to go and win the game, but I’m not sure Arteta had much choice as there was probably medical advice not to play Odegaard and Zinchenko for the full 90 minutes.”

More Stories Erik ten Hag Gabriel Jesus Luke Chadwick Martin Odegaard Mikel Arteta Oleksandr Zinchenko Thomas Partey