Arsenal beat Man United to hand Amorim’s first defeat

Arsenal scored twice from corners to comfortably beat Manchester United as Ruben Amorim suffered his first defeat in English football.

Defenders Jurrien Timber and William Saliba did the damage as Arsenal took advantage of Liverpool dropping points to trim their lead at the top of the Premier League table.

Arsenal sit third with 28 points, level on that mark with Chelsea and seven behind Arne Slot’s Reds.

The home side took the lead in the 53rd minute when Declan Rice’s corner was headed in at the near post by full-back Timber.

The Gunners then almost doubled their lead when United’s Manuel Ugarte had to clear off the line after team-mate Joshua Zirkzee flicked on another Rice corner.

Saliba made sure of the win when Thomas Partey headed Bukayo Saka’s corner against the French defender’s back and the ball went past Andre Onana in the United goal.

Arsenal have become a force to be reckoned with from set-pieces under manager Mikel Arteta. Timber and Saliba’s goals mean they have scored 22 goals from corners since the start of last season, more than any other Premier League side.

Amorim’s United did threaten the Arsenal goal when Diogo Dalot flashed a shot past David Raya’s post in the first half, and the Arsenal keeper made an excellent save to deny Matthijs de Ligt in the second half.

Substitute Mikel Merino headed wide from another excellent Arsenal set-piece and Kai Havertz had an effort saved by Onana as the Gunners dominated the closing period of the match.

It meant that Amorim, who warned that a “storm will come” for United before this game, saw his three-game unbeaten start come to an end in north London.

Since losing back-to-back games to Inter Milan and Newcastle at the start of November, Arsenal have hit on a hot streak.

The return of Martin Odegaard has coincided with a five-match unbeaten run and Arteta’s side are back to looking like title contenders.

This victory, in Arsenal’s 500th match at Emirates Stadium, means they have won three successive league games for the first time this season.

Centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes was ruled out of this game through injury, and having scored in each of his last two games it was suspected by some that the team would miss his presence at free-kicks and corners.

However, that turned out not to be the case as his fellow defenders showed their own threat.

The set-piece goals came despite United practising how they would defend the Arsenal corners, and the home side looked like they could score from most dead-ball situations.

Raya was called upon to make a couple of good saves but, on the whole, this was a comfortable win for Arsenal.

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