In the 34th round of the Premier League, Manchester United visited the Emirates Stadium to challenge Arsenal, in the confrontation between the two sides, although C Ronaldo scored, Bruno Fernandez conceded a penalty, and the Red Devils eventually lost 1-3, suffering the first four consecutive away defeats in the league since 1984, and the fourth place was basically hopeless.
Lonnick made five personnel changes to the starting line-up, hiding United captain Maguire, while Ronaldo, Varane and McTomine returned to help. De Gea defended the goal, Diaugu Dalo, Lindlev, Varane and Tres formed the defensive line, Matic and McTomine played as the back, Anthony Erlanga, Bruno Fernandez and Sancho were in charge of the attack, and the center was C Ronaldo.
Lonnick explains: "I needed to choose between three centre-backs and Harry (Maguire) had a difficult week, so I decided to give him a break, with Varane and Lindelof coming on. The comeback of McTomine and Varane is a good thing, we are missing a lot of players against Liverpool, especially in the defensive midfield area, and Fred will also return to training in the coming days. There are 3 people coming back today, which is of great significance."
Both teams have been in a slump recently, with Arsenal winning 2 and losing 3 in the last five rounds, and Manchester United with only 1 win, 1 draw and 3 defeats. Lonnick reminded the players: "We have to make sure we don't play too openly, we don't open the door as we did against Liverpool. The key is to have a compact formation, to instigate a good counterattack, and to play your own tight and counter-pressing moments. On the other hand, controlling the opponent's attacking line, Arsenal have three fast forwards, Andreault is a very good attacking midfielder, and the key to the game is draw."
But Lonnick's wishes did not materialize, and United immediately conceded the ball after the opening. Arsenal's diagonal cross from the left into the box, Dalo, Varane and Tres all made mistakes, Saka got up on the right and De Gea saved the ball, but the ball bounced in front of Tavares, who swept the empty goal to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead over Manchester United.
United then created two good chances, C Ronaldo's midfielder was straight in, Andelanda's powerful right-sided shot from the edge of the box was saved by Ramsdale, and then in a corner attack, McTomine's header was slightly offside. In the 7th minute of the game, Arsenal fans also gave a standing ovation to motivate his son C Luo, who died prematurely.
The Arsenal goalkeeper made a mistake in the start-up and McTomine passed to B Fee, but the latter's hanging shot was blocked by the defender.
In the 15th minute, Erlanga dribbled into the box, Tavares had a move in his hand, and United fell to the ground quickly, but the referee thought there was no foul.
United's attack played well, Dallow's inverted triangle return from the right, and Ronaldo stopped the ball and shot high. After Sancho broke the ball in front of him, the ball moved all the way to the right and Dalo's long-range shot hit the crossbar and popped up.
Arsenal also created a great opportunity to expand the lead, Nkedia successfully countered offside, directly facing De Gea's feet, and Manchester United goalkeeper brilliant save to defuse the danger.
But soon Nkedia received a cross from Saka and single-handedly scored the ball. VAR intervened and referee Craig Bawson went to the sidelines to watch the slow motion and determined that the goal was offside, but Tres knocked down Saka and was awarded a penalty.
Saka took the penalty, tricked De Gea and then pushed the ball into the net with his left foot, giving Arsenal a 2-0 lead over Manchester United in 31 minutes.
Sancho complained about cedric's handball after falling to the ground in the penalty area, and the referee believed that his arm was supporting the body and was not a foul.
Fortunately, United quickly pulled a goal back, Sancho returned from the left, Nemanja Matic crossed directly, Ronaldo slipped between the two centre-backs and pushed the ball into the net, Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United. It was also Ronaldo's 100th goal in the Premier League, becoming the fourth player in United's history to score hundreds of goals in the Premier League after Rooney, Giggs and Scholes, and the fourth player of the century to score a hundred goals in La Liga and the Premier League after Cavani, Higuain and Ibrahimovic.
In addition, Cristiano Ronaldo was the first Manchester United player to score in a Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium after Jesse Lingard in 2017. Cristiano Ronaldo also scored the most goals since the age of 35 in the five major leagues of the century with 57 goals, and he dedicated the ball to his deceased son with his left finger.
The two sides continued to face each other before the end of the first half, and De Gea was the savior again, saving Herneny's threatening long-range shot. B Fee's deciduous ball was also blocked by Ramsdale. In the final stages of stoppage time, De Gea pounced on Erdgao's low shot, and the half-time score did not change.
Arsenal were the first to create a chance, and Tavares clipped the flying shovel's Dalo, but fortunately his burst kick flew away. In the 54th minute, Nemanja Matic's header hit Tavares' arm and the referee pointed straight at 12 yards and United received a penalty.
Captain B Fei took the penalty, and his push after a small jump actually hit the left upright and directly ejected the bottom line, and United missed the equaliser.
United's attack did not decrease, and a few minutes later, Ronaldo turned around and shot into the net, but VAR showed that his heel was offside and the goal was invalid.
Fernandez then made a clever pass to the right and Dallone's instep shot into the near corner was pounced on the goalpost by Ramsdale.
Tavares leaned on Eranga again in the penalty area to bring the other side down, and the referee remained indifferent.
In the 70th minute, Arsenal scored again, Fernandez made a mistake in front of the penalty area, Xhaka's left foot exploded into the bottom right corner of the goal, De Gea's vision was blocked, it was too late to fly to save, arsenal extended their lead 3-1. Arteta changed the formation to 532 in hopes of stabilizing the scene. Lonnick first replaced Nemanja Matic and Erlanga with Rashford and Jesse Lingard, and then replaced B Fee with Mata, both of which were intended to strengthen the attack, but the score did not change in the end.
Arsenal are unbeaten in their last four Premier League home games against Manchester United with 3 wins and 1 draw, and have conceded only one goal. In addition, Arsenal have only won 4, 5 draws and 7 defeats in 16 of their 16 games against Manchester United on Saturday, this time the first since their 2-1 win on November 2008, and the four games they have won have been Saturday mornings.
Manchester United ended their unbeaten run of 13 Premier League visits to London with eight wins and five draws, the last time being a defeat to Arsenal in January 2020. In this game, Manchester United and Arsenal invariably adopted the strategy of pressing the front to attack with full force and basically undefended at the back. United create no less chances on the offensive end than Arsenal, but they are not as efficient as their opponents, and there are far more mistakes in the back than the Gunners.
Coupled with poor luck and the referee's bias towards the home team, it is not surprising that United eventually lost. After taking a two-goal lead for the second time, Arteta finally chose to strengthen the midfield, so that Manchester United, which was not as creative as the opponent, directly became helpless, the players completely lost their morale, and the defeat was decided.
You can only admit that the early announcement of Tenhag's coaching next season has indeed boosted the morale of Manchester United players to a certain extent, but their technical and tactical level cannot change overnight.
After losing the Gunners' four battles, United's hopes of entering the top four of the Premier League this season have been basically dashed. If Spurs beat Brentford in this round, both North London will be six points ahead of Manchester United and one less round. What's more, the two teams' make-up matches are just against each other, with the winning side of the North London derby leading by nine points, and each seven points ahead of Manchester United if they draw. The Red Devils have only four games left, and there is only a theoretical possibility to catch up with such a point difference.