STAR SPILLZ BLOG

Our unbeaten home record this season came to an end on a disappointing evening in north London. 

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After an impressive opening half hour, we went ahead when Lisandro Martinez put through his own net while Jurrien Timber tried to get his toe on a Matin Odegaard shot.

But a loose backpass from Martin Zubimendi allowed Bryan Mbeumo a simple equaliser before the break and Patrick Dorgu powered home a screamer after the break. 

Mikel Merino scrambled home an equaliser late on but United scored another goal from long-range shortly afterwards to win it, when Matheus Cunha smashed into the bottom corner. 

Strong start

After an unprecedented sequence of four away games in four different competitions within the space of just 10 days, we were back in front of the Emirates Stadium faithful, looking to re-establish our healthy lead at the top of the Premier League table.

We controlled the opening ten minutes, which culminated with Bukayo Saka winning a corner after a driving run into the area. The set-piece was cleared to Trossard, but his first-time effort at an awkward height looped over the bar. 

Declan Rice had our next chance, created when Martin Odegaard slipped a clever ball to him in midfield. Rice swapped passes with the overlapping William Saliba, but was then closed down as he got his shot away. 

Rice turned provider from a set piece shortly afterwards, swinging in an inviting free-kick onto the head of the towering Zubimendi, but Senne Lammens was equal to it with a good reaction parry.

Deadlock broken

Our forwards were seeing plenty of the ball in the opening 25 minutes, but it was a United defender who gave us the breakthrough.

First of all Saka showed he has feathers in his boots with a wonderful touch to bring a Piero Hincapie cross under his spell instantly. He cut it back to Odegaard, and his first-time shot was diverted past Lammens by Martinez under pressure from Jurrien Timber at close range.

United had the chance to equalise almost instantly, only for Bruno Fernandes to stab wide after a counter attack. He had another chance moments later inside the area as the visitors responded well to falling behind, but this time Saliba did just enough to deny him with a sliding challenge.

We were coming under pressure since taking the lead, but the equaliser came as a result of our own mistake. Zubimendi’s attempted first-time pass back to David Raya was misplaced, and Mbeumo gobbled up the chance by taking a touch and rolling his shot home. Level again. 

Dorgu’s dagger

We had been the better side in the first half, but had just allowed United back into it after taking the lead. 

Five minutes after the restart they went ahead. There looked to be a touch of handball against Dorgu as he controlled a bouncing ball in midfield. The referee waved play on though and the Dane rifled his rising shot home in off the crossbar from 20 yards out. The goal stood after a brief VAR review. 

Mikel Arteta responded with a rare quadruple substitution before an hour had passed, but we continued to struggle to find the verve we had shown in the opening half hour of the game.

Briefly level

As we entered the final ten minutes, Saka had a low shot that nearly caught Lammens out at his near post. From the resulting corner there was a real scramble, before one of the subs, Merino prodded the ball just over the line.

Hope and noise once again filled Emirates Stadium, but parity lasted just a couple of minutes. This time Matheus Cunha fired home an inch-perfect finish from outside the area, finding the bottom corner to put United back ahead.

We rolled into seven additional minutes, but the wind had been knocked out of our sails, and we fell to our first home defeat of the season. 

What’s next

We round off our Champions League league phase on Wednesday night, at home to Kairat Almaty. We have already secured a top-two place in the 36-team league, ensuring top seed status for the knock out rounds. We are back in Premier League action next Saturday, away to Leeds United.