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Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd (3-5 on pens): The Gunners rue missed chances

Arsenal crashed out of the FA Cup Third Round in rather unceremonious circumstances, failing to convert a boatload of chances against a 10-man Manchester United side. For the fourth year in a row, Arsenal lined up with their all-white ‘No More Red’ kit, highlighting the club’s fight against knife violence.

Gabriel Martinelli scored early on but he was clearly offside and besides that Arsenal offered nothing meaningful in attack. The major noteworthy event of the first half was the ghastly injured suffered by Gabriel Jesus after clashing with the Manchester United captain, Bruno Fernandes. While the Manchester United prima donna remained petulant expecting a free kick, Jesus grimaced on the turf and clearly looked in discomfort and had to be taken out by a stretcher which never bodes well for a player. Arteta’s quotes post-match didn’t offer any confidence,

“Big worry. That’s my feeling. He had to come off on a stretcher with a lot of pain. The worrying factor is the feeling that he had. He had to come off and the pain that he was in.”

At the start of the second half, Manchester United got the lead after some sloppy play from the Arsenal rearguard, which allowed Alejandro Garnacho to bear down on goal before teeing up Fernandes for a well-taken goal. However, the game sprung back to life when Diogo Dalot earned a red card for a rash challenge on Martinelli and Arsenal reacted well to get the equalizer from Gabriel.

As expected, Arsenal tried to make the numerical advantage count and should have gotten the lead when Harry Maguire fouled Kai Havertz in the box. The ref gave the spot kick and VAR confirmed it, even though it felt a bit soft. With Bukayo Saka unavailable, club captain, Martin Odegaard, stepped up ahead of Jorginho and fired the spot kick that was saved superbly by the Turkish goalie, Altay Buyindir. This took the wind off Arsenal’s sails and what we saw afterwards was a plethora of misses.

Kai Havertz had one of his worst performances in an Arsenal shirt, missing clear cut chances and Declan Rice, who came on for Mikel Merino, had two big chances that were missed. With no more replays, the match went into extra time but Arsenal looked bereft of ideas in breaking down a clear jaded Manchester United defense.

The match went into penalties and it was a disaster class for David Raya who literally moved before the ball was played, giving the Manchester United players a chance to make their minds up. It was a shambolic performance for the Gunners and they have crashed out from the FA Cup yet again.

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