(Football news) Both English titans won emphatically in gameweek 13, as the Gunners crushed West Ham United 5-2 before the Red Devils put four past Everton without reply at Old Trafford.
Momentarily on course to better last season’s record-breaking 6-0 smashing of West Ham at the London Stadium, Mikel Arteta’s rejuvenated Arsenal found themselves four goals to the good inside just 36 minutes in Saturday’s derby, before Irons full-back duo Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Emerson Palmieri threatened the most extraordinary comeback.
However, in strikingly similar fashion to their 5-1 Champions League obliteration of Sporting Lisbon, Arsenal extinguished their opponents’ hopes of an almighty turnaround through a Bukayo Saka penalty in a spectacular seven-goal first half, matching a Premier League record in the process.
A scoreless second suited the Gunners to a tee as they made it three wins on the bounce in all competitions—all of which have come by a three-goal margin or more—and Arteta’s men are once again the closest challengers to runaway leaders Liverpool, even if they are only above Chelsea in alphabetical order.
As much as international breaks can be a bugbear for football fans, Arsenal have been a team transformed since the November hiatus and will now play a landmark match at their Emirates home, which is set to host its 500th competitive club game on Wednesday evening.
Alongside Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion, Arsenal are one of just three teams in the division with their unbeaten home record still intact, and six of their last seven battles at the Emirates—where they are also on a 12-game scoring sequence in all competitions—have ended in victory.
While Arsenal as a whole have been resurrected since Premier League football returned, newly-appointed Manchester United boss Amorim has overseen the revival of two stuttering strikers during the embryonic stages of his Mancunian adventure.
Indeed, both Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee conjured up braces in the 4-0 triumph over relegation-threatened Everton on Sunday, a result that marked Manchester United’s fourth home success on the spin in all tournaments after Amorim’s Old Trafford debut versus Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League ended 3-2 in favour of the Red Devils.
A praiseworthy tally of eight points from their last four Premier League games has propelled Manchester United out of the bottom half of the Premier League table and into ninth spot, only four points adrift of Brighton & Hove Albion in the final Champions League position, but the less said about their road exploits, the better.
The 1-1 draw versus Ipswich Town in Amorim’s inaugural game stretched Man United’s winless run on their travels in all competitions to six matches—five of which have ended all square—and Southampton are the only side that the Red Devils have conquered away from their Old Trafford home so far this term.
The more recent head-to-head history makes for unpleasant reading for the Manchester United faithful too, as they have lost each of their last three Premier League games against Arsenal and have not prevailed at the Emirates since January 2019, a 3-1 FA Cup win where Alexis Sanchez struck against his old employers.
Also read: Liverpool face Newcastle United as they continue to stay on top of the league
