Arsenal and Manchester United played almost identical games: shocking start, penalties, comeback
Grigory Telingater August 26, 2023, 20:15 Moscow time
The two big clubs managed to turn the game around, but only one managed to keep the victory.
In the third round, Arsenal and Manchester United started their matches at the same time. The two best clubs played at home and both conceded from the start.
The goal that Arsenal conceded in the first minute (57 seconds) was surprising. First, Parti was cut, which is usually stable. Then Pereira failed to hit: the midfielder struck from afar with unnatural smoothness. And then Ramsdale moved first forward, then back, and as he moved back, he missed the door. The ball jumped to the near corner.
The ‘MU’ held out until the second minute, until they went to take a corner. It was dangerous, but for his own gates. The ball was quickly intercepted by the guests and Avoniyi ran up the middle of the field and scored without problems. Perhaps Manchester United surprised even more, because then it failed again: it happened twice in four minutes. Pain’s defender stood out, not even hitting the goal, but just letting the ball bounce off him successfully for Forest.
The evening continued to surprise. It turned out that Manchester United recovered from 0-2 even faster than Arsenal from 0-1. Manchester achieved two great combinations, after which Eriksen and Casemiro scored first. The Brazilian had to score more in this game. In the 26th minute he missed a meter to an empty goal. In the second case, when Casemiro scored, he had approximately the same position as a murderer.
Casemiro (Manchester United)
Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images
At the end of the game, both Manchester United and Arsenal came from behind to take the lead. It is symbolic that penalties helped both teams advance. The Londoners scored two goals in two minutes. First, Saka shot accurately from 11 meters, and then Nketia scored, who came out at the break (he scored when an opponent lay 20 seconds in someone else’s area, not from a penalty). At Manchester United, Fernandes scored the winning goal from a penalty.
As if there were few similarities in these matches, in both cases the guests received a red card. Also, removal at Old Trafford seemed controversial. Worrall obviously fouled Fernandes, but perhaps with a yellow card; there are great doubts that the Portuguese has gone out one on one with the goalkeeper.
In Manchester 11 minutes were added to the second half. Here’s why it happens:
The referees in England have returned to practice for the 2022 World Cup. Why is there so much extra time again?
And yet, in the end, the differences in the match turned out to be fundamental. Manchester United won 3:2, although they lost by two goals. Arsenal also turned the game around, but still failed to hold the lead. Fulham scored at the end, although they were in the minority. In the 87th minute, everyone forgot about Palinho, who, after a cross, shot into the far corner with a single touch (2-2).
By the way, in both matches the last goal went to the Portuguese.
