Rashford scores twice in Man. United’s 3-1 win over Arsenal

Sports Desk, Sep 4 (EFE).- Manchester United on Sunday put on a demonstration of efficacy, counterattack and talent, personified in the passes by Bruno Fernandes, without which their 3-1 win over Arsenal would not have been possible, and the two late goals by Marcus Rashford, the first of which broke the prevailing tie and the second of which clinched the victory.

All in all, a great match was staged at Old Trafford before some 80,000 fans as Man. United notched their fourth straight Premier League victory and cut short their rivals’ so-far perfect beginning to the current season.

Erik ten Hag must be feeling great with his new signee from Ajax as $100 million Antony scored the first goal for the home squad in the 35th minute, but Bukayo Saka evened things up 13 minutes after play resumed following the break.

Earlier, in the first half, Gabriel Martinelli had scored for Arsenal but that goal was ruled out after VAR examination verified a foul on Christian Eriksen.

Ten Hag’s boys have been growing and expanding their power in recent weeks, and now they stand just three points from the summit of the Premier League table, where Arsenal sits with 15 points after their five straight wins – before Sunday’s encounter, that is.

Arsenal has shown itself to be a fine team allowing the Red Devils to clearly dominate the match only at the beginning despite the final result. Every counterattack launched by the visitors had the possibility of becoming a tally, making for a thrilling back-and-forth match-up all along the way.

But in the 66th minute and again in the 74th it was Rashford finding the twine to put Man. United out ahead and then seal the deal.

“They are a good team,” said Rashford after the match. “They know their principles of play and are very good at it. They are a good possession-based team and offer lots of difficulties with players dropping into pockets and with attacking threats. It is what we expected. I thought it was an even game. There were big spaces in the first half we couldn’t exploit. We managed to do that in the second half.”

Lineups:

Manchester United: De Gea; Dalot, Varane, Lisandro (Maguire, m. 79), Malacia; McTominay, Eriksen; Antony (Cristiano Ronaldo, m. 57), Bruno Fernandes, Sancho (Fred, m. 67); Rashford (Casemiro, m. 79).

Arsenal: Ramsdale; White (Tomiyasu, m. 80), Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko (Nketiah, m. 73); Sambi (Fabio Vieira, m. 73), Xhaka; Saka, Odegaard (Smith Rowe, m. 72), Martinelli; Gabriel Jesus.

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