Title race blown wide open as anxious Arsenal stunned at home by United

London: After wins by Manchester City and Aston Villa over the weekend, the spotlight fell on the Emirates Stadium. Could Arsenal respond in kind, and maintain a safe distance between themselves and the Premier League’s chasing pack? Or would old foe Michael Carrick shove a tree branch between the spokes of their proverbial bicycle, and bring them crashing down in front of everyone?

Do Arsenal have the bottle to win the title ... or are they, in fact, the bottlers?

Michael Carrick celebrates at full-time.Credit: Getty Images

It’s still, obviously, too early to say, but the case for the latter is strengthening. As is Carrick’s case to become Manchester United’s permanent manager, having plundered a second successive upset win over an arch-rival in an absolute classic on Sunday night (UK time).

United’s 3-2 win, decided by a stunning 87th-minute strike from Matheus Cunha, blows the title race wide open. The gap between top-placed Arsenal and City and Villa is now just four points, and Mikel Arteta’s side are currently in the thrall of a strange neuroticism that threatens to undo all of their efforts thus far.

After scoreless draws against Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, the Gunners have taken just two points from a possible nine - making this their most barren run of form in the league this season.

Their biggest enemy, it seems, is within.

‘Listen, I’m not getting carried away.’

There were boos at the full-time whistle, and Arteta was peppered with questions in his post-match press conference about how the crowd’s vibes affected his team, and what it all meant, as well as Arsenal great Patrick Vieira’s assessment on Sky Sports that there were still question marks about their mental strength.

“That’s fine, we accept every opinion … and where it comes from,” Arteta said.

“That’s part of the demands, the expectation, that we want to win … it’s how we react to that, and I am very convinced, because I know those players in that dressing room and how much they want it, that we are going to react immediately.”

The result is somewhat hard to fathom given how this clash started: from the outset, Arsenal were utterly dominant across all aspects, suppressing United within their defensive half for practically all of first 10 minutes. After 15 minutes, the home fans were complaining about time-wasting. Three minutes after that, they finally conjured their first shot on target, with Martin Zubimendi forcing a cracking point-blank save from Senne Lemmens with a header off Declan Rice’s free kick.

Matheus Cunha scored a stunning winner to seal back-to-back wins for United.Credit: Getty Images

Just before the half-hour mark, they opened the scoring with a very clever goal. Bukayo Saka collected a high-clearing header by Patrick Dorgu in the box. With two defenders standing in front of him, Saka chipped the ball between them to Odegaard, who prodded it on and then in off the standing leg of Lisandro Martinez.

At that point, it felt like a question of Arsenal by how much.

Then, inexplicably, the atmosphere changed. Confidence gave way to anxiety, then anger.

Arsenal beckoned United back into the game, and the visitors gratefully accepted the invitation. Moments of even slight imperfection were greeted by groans from the crowd, thus creating a vicious cycle which threatened to consume them. Suddenly, Carrick’s men were breaking forward, and often.

Piero Hincapie’s body language says it all.Credit: Getty Images

Even warmer hospitality was to come: an equaliser that was essentially gift-wrapped by Zubimendi, greeting card and all. His errant back pass to the goalkeeper was cut off by Bryan Mbuemo, who held his nerve, rounded David Raya and made it 1-1.

As everyone was resuming their seats for the second half, United struck again, with Dorgu and Bruno Fernandes combining before the former lashed a shot in off the crossbar from the top of the penalty area. The VAR searched for a reason to take it away, but Dorgu smartly kept his arms locked to avoid a possible handball as the ball bounced in his path. 2-1 to the party crashers.

Arsenal huffed, puffed and eventually found a second in the 84th minute from - shock, horror - a corner kick, bundled over by Mikel Merino amid a mess of bodies. That gave them a surge of late momentum.

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And then, just like after they scored in the first half, they collapsed: out of nowhere, Cunha swerved in a brilliant shot from 30 yards out that caught everyone by surprise.

After seven fruitless minutes of stoppage time, a stunned hush fell over north London, and the United fans in the corner went off their heads. Knocking off City in the Manchester derby last week was one thing; this, however, was as incredible as it was consequential.

“Listen, I’m not getting carried away,” Carrick said.

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