For 79 minutes on Saturday, Arsenal were superb. In that spell, they had 32 shots to Manchester United’s five. They pummelled a team noted for their organisation, creating chance after chance. As Arsène Wenger underlined afterwards, they hammered them on the xG. They forced David de Gea into a Premier League record 14 saves. The problem was that by the time they began that spell, they were 2-0 down.
There is an entire chapter in Alex Ferguson’s last but one book devoted to Wenger and how predictable he found Arsenal, how easy they were to counter-attack. Wenger claimed last week that his switch to a back three had helped alleviate that, offeringgreater defensive stability.
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