MEEK UNITED FLOP AGAIN AGAINST A ‘BIG SIX’ RIVAL

have improved their form and the top half is unusually bunched. A good run – as United found recently – can take you places quickly.

Yet this was a tame match at the Emirates. It lacked intensity and any feeling that it was really important.

Even though a win for United would have kept them hard on the shoulder of leaders Manchester City and a victory for Arsenal would have taken them to the fringes of the European race, both seemed to be marking time a little.

It was particularly strange from United. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team had beaten Liverpool in the FA Cup a week earlier and had not lost away from home in the Premier League all season.

Yet they never looked as though they were in a hurry to try to win this, and a look at their results against the traditional big teams reveals a pattern. In six league games against Arsenal (who they have played twice), Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool, United have scored one goal (a penalty) and failed to win. That suggests they have lost a little of that trademark confidence. If so, they need to find a way to get it back.

Here, they may well have sneaked a win.

Edinson Cavani missed two very presentable opportunities in the second half. Arsenal also had chances earlier in the half. Willian shot weakly and Nicolas Pepe struck the foot of Harry Maguire when he seemed set to score. Then Alexandre Lacazette struck the underside of the bar with a free-kick.

‘We feel disappointed,’ said United goalkeeper David de Gea afterwards.

‘We missed a chance to beat Arsenal. I think we did enough, we created enough chances to win. Maybe they dominated just the 10 minutes they had in the second half. We have to take our chances in matches.’

ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): LENO 8; Bellerin 6, Holding 7, Luiz 7, Cedric 6; Partey 6, Xhaka 6; Martinelli 6 (Willian 46min, 6), Smith Rowe 7 (Odegaard 83), Pepe 6; Lacazette 6 (Nketiah 90). Subs not used: Runarsson, Gabriel, Maitland-Niles, Chambers, Elneny, Willock. Booked: Cedric. Manager: Mikel Arteta 6. MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): De Gea 6; Wan-Bissaka 7, Lindelof 6, Maguire 7, Shaw 6; McTominay 6 (Martial 37, 5.5), Fred 6; Rashford 5.5 (Greenwood 80), Fernandes 6, Pogba 6; Cavani 6. Subs not used: Henderson, Bailly, James, Telles, Matic, Van de Beek, Tuanzebe. Booked: Wan-Bissaka, Maguire, Pogba.

Manager: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 6. Referee: Michael Oliver 7.