United Beyond Manchester

A quality performance seemed to be heading down the drain for Manchester United after Diogo Dalot’s red card. Instead, Ruben Amorim’s players banded together and pulled out an improbable victory at the Emirates.

Match Flow

Arsenal started strong and thought they had opened the scoring in the 18th minute. However, Harry Maguire’s touch before the finish was rightly judged not to be deliberate, and Gabriel Martinelli’s goal was ruled offside by the linesman.

While Arsenal had 60% of possession, Manchester United did not allow a shot on target in the first half. The defense from the Reds, especially from Harry Maguire and Noussair Mazraoui, was excellent and controlled the attack from the hosts.

A mistake from Gabriel led to a brilliant opening goal for Manchester United. The Brazilian defender headed into Alejandro Garnacho and then slipped, opening a lane for the Argentine to attack. Garnacho expertly found Bruno Fernandes inside the box, who struck the ball perfectly into David Raya’s far top corner.

A poor decision by Diogo Dalot put United down a man for the rest of the match. While on a yellow card already, the Portuguese right-wing-back flew into a tackle late, picked up a second yellow, and was sent off. The contact was minimal at best, but Dalot should never have gone into that tackle.

Immediately after the red, Arsenal leveled. Altay Bayindir’s punched clearance on a cross went straight up, eventually falling to Gabriel, who found the bottom corner of the net.

In the 72nd minute, the Gunners were awarded a controversial penalty for a foul on Harry Maguire. What initially appeared to be a potential winning moment for Arsenal turned into a highlight for Bayindir, as the goalkeeper redeemed himself from an earlier mistake by making an outstanding penalty save.

Bayindir made a few more saves, ultimately keeping the match level and forcing extra time.

After more solid defending in the first half of extra time, United nearly took the lead in the opening minutes of the second fifteen. Joshua Zirkzee had a deflected shot saved in the bottom corner by David Raya after a great attacking move by Amad Diallo.

Extra time ended level, evening the playing field again as the match headed to penalty kicks.

Perfectly taken penalties from Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo, Leny Yoro, Lisandro Martinez, and Joshua Zirkzee, and another penalty save from Altay Bayindir provided Ruben Amorim and the away fans with a stunning FA Cup.

Analysis

Manchester United’s defending of corner kicks showed vast improvement since the December 4th match between the two sides. In that loss, the Reds conceded twice from corners to Jurrien Timber and William Saliba. Twelve corners for Arsenal yielded nothing, with credit due to the physical defending by United and decent command from Bayindir.

Manchester United displayed a growing sense of unity under Ruben Amorim. After going down to ten men, every player defended together for over 60 minutes, leading to penalties and a remarkable victory. As Joshua Zirkzee celebrated, he was surrounded by teammates—those same teammates who may have inspired his decision to remain at the club. When a team is struggling, everyone must unite to turn things around. Right now, Manchester United is making progress by coming together.

Next Match

Manchester United welcome 20th-place Southampton to Old Trafford on Thursday. The Reds need three points following the draw at Anfield last week to continue to build momentum in the Premier League.