GUNNERS FIRING FOR ARTETA
Pepe sparks first win as new boss outwits lacklustre United side
THE street sellers around the Emirates Stadium seemed to be stretching a point as they punted unofficial merchandise in honour of Mikel Arteta before kick-off.
Slogans on the scarves and flags declared ‘return of a legend’ and, while Arteta made a solid and professional contribution during five years when Arsenal won the FA Cup twice, he is a long way down the club’s list of greats.
His return as manager, however, does offer scope to carve his name into the history of the club because the Gunners have been in desperate need of inspiration.
Last night, against Manchester United, Arteta’s team rose to the occasion, performed with purpose and intensity in the first half and resisted throughout the second when they tired and faded.
The home crowd responded as he celebrated his first victory as head coach with goals by Pepe and Sokratis, which stopped the rot of four home defeats in a row and eased an alarming slide towards the relegation zone.
There is work ahead for Arteta but this brought much-needed relief.
‘It feels great, incredible. I’m so happy and proud of the players and the performance they put in,’ he said. ‘It was much better in the first half than the second. Everything we planned to do worked well. We had enough chances to put the game to bed.’
For Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, even in the midst of the festive chaos, it felt like a missed opportunity on a day when Chelsea, Tottenham and Wolves dropped points in the scramble for the top four.
‘They played really well, they were brighter than us,’ admitted Solskjaer. ‘We were too slow in the first half but that’s credit to them. We kept going but the quality wasn’t good enough.’
To think at the start of this century, this fixture represented the most fearsome rivalry in English football.
At the moment, it is a Europa League six-pointer at best and a bottomless well of opinion and analysis about what could possibly be going wrong.
United arrived in the capital without Paul Pogba but the one-man sideshow dominated the preamble with another barrage of fierce criticism aimed at vicechairman Ed Woodward and the Old Trafford hierarchy by his agent Mino Raiola via Italian newspapers.
Solskjaer confirmed before kick-off that Pogba, having been limited to little more than an hour of action since the end of September, would be ruled out for some time with an ankle problem.
With Scott McTominay also injured, it meant Fred and Nemanja Matic in central midfield — and the visitors threatened first, testing the confidence of Arsenal keeper Bernd Leno after his costly error on his previous outing against Chelsea.
Leno was needed to save a Marcus Rashford drive zipping across a slick surface and punched away a swerving free-kick after Sead Kolasinac had been shown a yellow card for a push to halt the progress of Dan James.
Kolasinac, back in the team after an ankle injury, soon offered a reminder of his strengths when he charged forward to create the goal which gave Arsenal an early lead.
He collected a pass from Mesut Ozil and his low cross clipped Victor Lindelof and deflected towards Pepe, cutting in from the right, who swept it into the net with his left foot from ten yards.
Pepe, recalled in favour of Reiss Nelson, continued to thrive, wriggling past Luke Shaw almost immediately and picking out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was only narrowly over with an volley.
Alex Lacazette fluffed his finish after showing great strength and technique to turn past Harry Maguire. He hurriedly toe-poked his shot from an acute angle and saw it veer off target.
Lucas Torreira sent another effort narrowly wide moments later and held his head, anguished at his failure to transform a positive start into more of a stranglehold on the game.
Pepe seized on a poor kick by David de Gea and curled a shot from 25 yards around the United goalkeeper, only to see the ball strike the foot of a post and rebound away. Arsenal produced an impressive, high-energy start against Chelsea only to fade and lose and new boss Arteta cut an agitated figure on the touchline, marshalling his back line and relaying orders. Three minutes before half time came the second goal — just reward for Arsenal’s dominance. A corner was flicked on at the near post by Lacazette and parried by De Gea, but he could only push it down to Sokratis who gleefully whacked the ball into the net. Maguire wasted a chance before half-time when he escaped his marker at a free-kick only to head tamely at Leno. United performed with more purpose in the second half but Leno stood firm. First a reflex save from a cross by James deflected towards goal by Kolasinac and then to deny Fred from long range.
Solskjaer sent on Mason Greenwood and Andreas Pereira for James and Jesse Lingard, who operated behind Antony Martial but was unable to shine.
Pereira slammed a shot into the side netting but Arsenal resisted, which is something they have not always managed to do.
ARSENAL (4-2-3-1): Leno; Maitland-Niles, Sokratis, Luiz, Kolasinac (Saka 69); Torreira, Xhaka; Pepe (Nelson 63), Ozil, Aubameyang; Lacazette (Guendouzi 82). Subs not used: Martinez, Holding, Willock, Ceballos. Booked: Kolasinac, Saka. MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw; Fred, Matic (Mata 81); James (Greenwood 59), Lingard (Pereira 59), Rashford; Martial. Subs not used: Romero, Jones, Williams, Young. Man of the match: Alexandre Lacazette. Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Att: 60,328.