Luke Chadwick says Arsenal were ‘unlucky’ at Old Trafford

Former Manchester United academy graduate Luke Chadwick says Arsenal were unlucky to lose at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Chadwick praise Mikel Arteta’s side after they dominated possession and gave a decent account of themselves against United – unless they made some changes in the second half!

Gabriel Martinelli had a goal disallowed in the first half, but United eventually came out on top and played with a fiery attitude. Antony scored on his debut before Marcus Rashford sealed the win with a brace.

Chadwick feels VAR made the right decision to disallow Martinelli’s counter-attacking goal, but he thought Arsenal were excellent.

“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.

“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.”

SN’s verdict

I wouldn’t say Arsenal were unlucky. Perhaps lucky that Gabriel Jesus wasn’t sent off.

A lot of pundits are forgetting how many battles United won around the pitch, how well we defended and how Arsenal rarely threatened David de Gea between the sticks.

Chadwick must be looking for some brownie points from his Arsenal supporting mates!

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