Man Utd beat Arsenal despite Pogba getting red card

Coach Jose Mourinho and his team won 3-1 at Emirates Stadium in round 15 of the English Premier League.

The joy of victory of Man Utd players.

Goals: Lacazette 49' - Valencia 4', Lingard 11', 63'

Red card: Pogba 74'

Arsene Wenger said before the match that he did not want his colleague Mourinho to "park the bus" in the big match on the evening of December 2. But in the end, it was the defense that killed Arsenal, in the context of Man Utd thoroughly applying the defensive counter-attacking style of play.

In the fourth minute, captain Laurent Koscielny passed the ball to the wrong address in his own half. Antonio Valencia intercepted it, made a one-two with Pogba, before finishing close range, through Petr Cech's legs to open the score.

Koscielny (right) made a mistake that led to Arsenal's first goal.

Not yet over the shock of conceding an early goal, the Czech Republic goalkeeper's net shook a second time just seven minutes later. It was still a mistake in defense, this time Shkodran Mustafi lost the ball in front of the penalty area. Romelu Lukaku stole the ball, passed it to Anthony Martial, who then fed the ball to the French striker.JesseLingard was on the right track. The English midfielder's close-range shot was unstoppable by Cech.

In this match, Mourinho surprised everyone by lining up a 3-5-2 formation, with Lingard playing the role of an attacking midfielder - right above the duo Paul Pogba and Nemanja Matic. The English midfielder's speed and dribbling ability caused Arsenal to be repeatedly hit in the face.

After the mistake that led to the second goal, Mustafi was injured and had to leave the field. Arsenal returned to a 4-2-3-1 strategy with the appearance of Alex Iwobi in midfield, instead of the 3-4-3 as at the beginning of the match. However, this adjustment did not help the home team create good chances. Most of Arsenal's dangerous situations at this time came from the lack of decisiveness of Man Utd's defense.

Valencia's successful shot

... and the joy of the Man Utd captain when he opened the score.

In the 20th minute, Alexandre Lacazette used a trick on Marcos Rojo and had a chance to shoot from a distance of more than 1 meter, but could not get past De Gea's hand. In the 32nd minute, Lacazette continued to take advantage of Rojo's confusion when he let the ball touch his foot and then changed direction, rushing in to shoot in the penalty area. After touching De Gea's hand, the ball hit the crossbar. In Granit Xhaka's follow-up shot, the ball hit the outside edge of the post.

Arsenal were active in shooting from distance in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Mesut Ozil, Hector Bellerin and Sead Kolasinac tested De Gea with shots from outside the box, but the most dangerous moment came from Lukaku's mistake. The Belgian striker let the ball touch his foot after Alexis Sanchez's free kick and almost scored an own goal if De Gea hadn't reacted in time.

At the end of the first half, Arsenal had nearly 20 shots but could not find the opponent's net once.

De Gea had a brilliant day, repeatedly frustrating the red shirt strikers.

It can be said that Lingard scored twice but De Gea was the most outstanding player of Man Utd.Apart from the unavoidable situation in Lacazette's goal, the Spanish goalkeeper repeatedly frustrated the home team in the four minutes after the break. Notably, he made two consecutive saves in the 52nd minute, against shots from close range from Lacazette and Sanchez.

The former Atletico Madrid goalkeeper's impressive form was partly responsible for Arsenal's 33 shots only finding the target once. However, the home team's goal was assisted by the Man Utd defence.

In the 49th minute, the away team fell into the offside trap after a cross fromThe most lackluster player in the first half - Alexis Sanchez.Aaron Ramsey broke free and passed the ball right to Lacazette. The former Lyon player's shot from more than 5 meters away gave De Gea no chance to save.

The French striker's goal made the game more interesting. Mourinho's team could not continue to defend passively because of the fragile one-goal difference. On the other side, Arsenal were highly excited when they penetrated De Gea's net. The two teams traded blows, with clear chances.

Lacazette celebrates the goal that shortened the score

Man Utd were still the sharper finishers, and they proved it in the most coordinated play of the match. In the 63rd minute, Lingard initiated a counter-attack from home. He fed Pogba on the right wing, using his speed and power to get past Koscielny. The former Juventus player's subsequent cross allowed Lingard to easily restore the two-goal lead.

This goal clearly dampened Arsenal's spirits, even though there was still half an hour left to play. Even when Pogba received a red card for kicking Bellerin, and two players who had a knack for scoring against Man Utd, Danny Welbeck and Oliver Giroud, were brought on, Arsene Wenger's team did not create enough pressure to make Man Utd vulnerable.

Pogba received a red card in an unfortunate manner.

The final notable incident came in the 88th minute when Welbeck was tackled by Man Utd substitute Matteo Darmian in the penalty area but referee Ander Marine did not award a penalty to the home team.

No further goals were scored, and Mourinho secured his first win away to a top-six side since taking charge of Man Utd, restoring his team's three-point lead over second-placed Chelsea and closing the gap to leaders Man City to five.

StillArsenal, after two rounds in the top 4, have dropped to fifth, giving up their position to Liverpool - who just crushed Brighton with a score of 5-1 and are one point ahead of the Emirates team.

According to VNE