Manchester United can count themselves a little fortunate to have gone into the half-time break a goal ahead of Arsenal.
The Gunners were, objectively, the superior outfit at Old Trafford in the opening 45. However, they found themselves undone by a world-class free-kick from the talismanic Bruno Fernandes.
Bruno Fernandes, that is beautiful 😍 pic.twitter.com/7pAau1Aqjz
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 9, 2025
From that point onwards, one could reasonably argue that the Red Devils were more than good enough for the lead they took into the second half of action at Old Trafford.
In fact, the hosts came painfully close to doubling their scoreline not once, but twice, between efforts courtesy of Noussair Mazraoui and Joshua Zirkzee.
Manchester United fans on their feet after Mazraoui miss
We want to see more goals at Old Trafford; we want to see more goals fullstop!
That said, we have to stand up and take notice whenever quality football is on display from Ruben Amorim’s men against top-notch opposition.
It’s just a shame that Noussair Mazraoui couldn’t cap off what would have been a sensational team move following a lightning counter.
David Raya with an INCREDIBLE save to prevent Noussair Mazraoui 🤯🧤 pic.twitter.com/pMMDftEUKh
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) March 9, 2025
“I can’t believe Noussair Mazraoui has missed it,” Michael Brown reported on BBC Radio 5 Live’s coverage (via BBC Sport).
The former Bayern Munich fullback received a more sympathetic response from the Manchester United Evening News’ Samuel Luckhurst on X (formerly Twitter).
The miss was described as ‘unfortunate’, with the chief United writer noting the appreciative response from the Old Trafford faithful – certainly more than what Andre Onana was subjected to in the first half hour!
Crowd on their feet applauding that. A quick and slick move brimming with quality wing play and Mazraoui unfortunate. The kind of football United supporters demand and that they've seldom seen this season. #mufc
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) March 9, 2025
Sky Sports‘ Peter Smith likewise took an alternative approach, highlighting David Raya’s remarkable goalkeeping: “What a save! It looked like a certain second for United!
“He’s somehow sliced it past the far post with his shin. Brilliant reactions from Raya!”
One of United’s best players against Arsenal
Sofascore, at the time of writing, have handed Mazraoui a 7/10 rating for his showing at the Theatre of Dreams.
The Moroccan international supplied one key pass against Mikel Arteta’s men in amongst 34 touches, along with an impressive array of additional stats:
- 12/16 passes completed (75%)
- 1/1 dribble completed
- 3/5 ground duels completed
- 1/1 aerial duel completed
- 3 clearances
- 2 interceptions
It’s been a welcome run of performance from the 27-year-old, who was rightly labelled as ‘outstanding’ in a 3-2 win over Ipswich Town in February.
Manager needs a goal and he brings on a striker that has not scored in22 games he got 2 wonderful chances and still could not score and him having a natural goal scorer on the bench in chino obi you have to ask the question why is he hiding him I think it’s obvious