Manchester United needed to bounce back after that heavy defeat in the mini-derby. After the international break, they had the perfect chance to do it against Arsenal at Old Trafford with a decent crowd in attendance expecting a performance.
The game started with Arsenal on the front foot in the first 10 minutes, with U21’s debutant Elyh Harrison making two brilliant saves within the space of two minutes. United seemed a bit shaky at first, but it was quite predictable given their last outing in a big game. Dempsey changed the entire back four from that atrocious game versus City in the hope of getting a result this time around.
In the following minutes, United were making more of the ball. However, it was Arsenal through Khayon Edwards who opened the scoring. The impressive game from Harrison was shadowed a bit from a mistake he made as he lost the ball in a dangerous area. Edwards made the best out of it and Arsenal took the lead. Despite this, United were not backing down and one of United’s best players was at the end of a Daniel Gore pass and things were level again.
United U21s [1]-1 Arsenal U21s – Mateo Mejia 24′
by u/Gungerz in reddevils
Afterwards, Kambwala and Kingdon did some excellent work at the back as Arsenal came again knocking in United’s door. Mateo Mejia soon again had another brilliant chance but nothing could be made out of it. Things got heated pretty quickly, but nothing was coming at either end and this was the end of the first half.
In the second half, Dempsey decided to make a few adjustments as Jurado and Hansen came in for Emeran and Jackson respectively. What could be considered Arsenal’s best chance came in the 51st minute, as the ball hit the inner post and our back four should be thankful of it. Later on, Wellens came on for Ethan Williams giving a pair of fresh legs in the wing. Before Williams was subbed he had a chance to score after receiving a pass from Mejia but his shot was saved as it was central.
We may have not watched the best out of Kambwala a lot, but this was one of his best games yet. The rest of the game was mostly United being aggressive time and time again and after Norkett came in, that United attack became more lively. Surely, Elyh Harrison slipped a bit into the turf which led to an Arsenal goal, but his performance bar that was exceptional.
By the end, Hansen had the chance to win it for Manchester United, but a brilliant tackle in the box saved Arsenal one point on this game. Final whistle, Dempsey has surely learned a lot from the game and we move forward from here.
Featured image courtesy of @bennymufc
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