Manchester United brought Arsenal's five-game winning start to the Premier League season to an end as Marcus Rashford and debutant Antony inspired them to a 3-1 win at Old Trafford.
The scoreline may have flattered Erik ten Hag's side, who spent much of the game desperately attempting to hold back the Arsenal tide within their own penalty area, but the Dutchman will at least feel that he has a template for overcoming big six rivals. As they had against Liverpool, United sacrificed possession for penetration on the break and it paid off in style.
Arsenal's best passage of the game ended with a goal but one forged by the impressive Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes in midfield. They turned defense into attack in two passes before Jadon Sancho and Rashford teed up Antony to mark his debut with a well-taken goal.
By then the visitors might have been leading but a well-finished move by Gabriel Martinelli was disallowed after the intervention of VAR with Martin Odegaard adjudged to have fouled Eriksen in the build up.
It took long enough and plenty of wasted chances but Arsenal's pressure eventually told when the ball broke to Bukayo Saka on the hour to roll into an empty net. Yet again momentum was on the visitors' side until the very moment United scored, Rashford darting onto a through ball by Fernandes as William Saliba played him onside.
With 20 minutes left to play Mikel Arteta went for broke, taking off his left back and holding midfielder as three forward-minded players came onto the pitch. It immediately backfired as Eriksen darted through an unprotected middle, teeing up Rashford for a goal that extends United's winning run to four games. Arsenal's might be at an end but after six games they still top the table on 15 points. On another day that tally might have been 18.
Here's what to know:
Antony brings Old Trafford to life
Entrusted from the outset just days after making his $95 million move from Ajax, it did not take long for Antony to make his mark. Even before his elegantly taken goal, there were flashes of the talent that will get Old Trafford on its feet. Shuffled into a safe space near the right corner flag by Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel, the 22-year-old Brazilian looked to have wasted a promising position for his teammates. Instead, he made it even better
A flick of the back of his heel and two defenders had been taken out of the game. Diogo Dalot was given all the space he could need to pick out a cross, a good one at that, and if Christian Eriksen's left foot had been as good as his right, United would have gotten their lead earlier. Antony had an eye for something special and throughout his debut he would go out of his way to make the game fun, twice attempting to chip Aaron Ramsdale before the break.
Crucially, though, there was substance to go with the style. He showed as much with a devastatingly timed run and finish off the left, the sort of goal he will be expected to deliver an awful lot in the coming months. Though he faded before being withdrawn in the second half, the weight of others more than picked up the slack with Rashford a devastating presence through the middle.
The game suited his skillset, hanging off the last shoulder of Arsenal's high line where his teammates could exploit his searing pace and composure in front of goal that has not left him even during his recent difficulties in front of goal. When United play as they did for 75 or so minutes, sitting deep and countering, he looks to be the perfect number nine. The intriguing question that hangs over Ten Hag early in his reign is how he adapts the game of Rashford (and plenty of others who seem better suited to transitional play) for games where United dominate the ball.
The winning run ends but Arsenal impress
Not for nothing did Gary Neville spend the final minutes of his commentary on UK television singing Arsenal's praises. On another day, one where VAR had had a different view of Martinelli's early strike or Odegaard and Saka had had their shooting boots on, this might have been a statement road win for the league leaders. That it wasn't does not mean they are not a serious top-four contender, indeed in that regard, their standing should be enhanced for the way in which they dominated the game before United's second.
Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez were given all sorts of difficulties by Gabriel Jesus whilst the team as a whole simply could not stop Arsenal from getting into their penalty area. In general, if you have 47 touches in an opponent's box it is fair to assume you are going to score more than one goal.
As a sidenote, only Crystal Palace have allowed their opposition more penalty area touches than United so far this season. Ten Hag surely does not want his defense to be reliant on the penalty box tackles of Martinez and Varane in perpetuity.
At their best, the Arsenal front four weaved pretty patterns to get themselves just where they wanted. However, in key moments, particularly as the first half reached its conclusion, the final pass was off. It is fair to assume that where Odegaard, Saka and company are concerned that will be the exception rather than the norm.
Of course, Arsenal's performance was far from perfection. Arteta might conclude in the cold light of day that his triple change backfired but the league's youngest manager will learn from his errors if his recent track record is to be trusted. He will have to hope that Albert Sambi Lokonga does again after a display in which his positioning was too often called into question.
The role at the base of midfield is perhaps the hardest to learn in Arteta's side, even Thomas Partey needed a fair while to get up and running. Lokonga does the ball progression well, but for United's first in particular he was not in a position to block Eriksen's pass into Fernandes or to aid the defensive line from then on.
It should be noted that he would be third choice for this position in a fully fit squad but after the failure to sign Douglas Luiz on deadline day, Lokonga's difficulties felt all the more notable. With Mohamed Elneny out for months Arteta will need Partey to get fit – Arsenal hope he will be back next weekend – and keep him fit.
Tierney gets the big call right
Premier League officiating has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons this weekend with the discourse around referees now so highly charged as to make it appear utterly unreasonable for human beings to make errors, even if they are as calamitous as that which denied West Ham a goal on Saturday. There is room for debate on whether VAR really needed to intervene to call back Martinelli's goal for Odegaard's challenge on Eriksen, one which Roy Keane felt was within the rules of the game, but amid all the rage perhaps we could find the space to note a job done right.
Paul Tierney's playing of advantage in the build-up to United's first goal was perfect officiating, the Premier League's desire to allow the game to flow put in action. It is also hard to simply do your job right if you are aware of the ludicrous debate surrounding you before the game (Arsenal fans complained that Tierney, born in Wigan and registered as a fan of that team, had grown up too close to Old Trafford). Perhaps moments like that is what should be expected of referees in a competition that views itself as the pinnacle of the domestic game. But given the circumstances surrounding his game, maybe it is justified to simply commend a job well done on this occasion.