Manchester United vs Arsenal: Five things we learned as spoils shared in carnival of errors

Arsenal extended their undefeated run to 20 games despite a series of careless errors at Old Trafford

Nothing could split the two sides in the end (Action Images via Reuters)

In a scrappy game of blunders Manchester United and Arsenal shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw.

Shkodran Mustafi gave Unai Emery’s side the lead midway through the first half after an uncharacteristic fumbling error from David de Gea, only for Anthony Martial to equalise just moments later for United after latching onto a cutback in the box.

And in the second-half, the cycle repeated itself – a terrible error from Marcus Rojo gifting a goal to Alexandre Lacazette before Sead Kolasinac matched his calamity a minute later to let Jesse Lingard score the goal to tie the scrappy match.

Here’s five things we learned from the game...

Mistakes start with goalkeepers...

What was touted as an elite-level clash at Old Trafford ultimately became a carnival of errors starting with the goalkeepers. The imposter of David de Gea returned to Old Trafford after an extended break since the World Cup as the Spaniard inexplicably spooned Shkodran Mustafi’s bouncing header beyond his own baseline.

But Bernd Leno went pint-for-pint with his contemporary, tipping Marcus Rojo’s free-kick beyond the post but not the byline, where it was quickly collected by Ander Herrera who teed up Martial to fire into an empty net as Arsenal's keeper tottered back towards his goal.

The carnival continues...

And then like Mourinho’s midweek ‘virus’, the erroneous disease spread to the outfield as each side’s defenders competed in a ‘who can make the biggest blunder competition’.

First to blink was Marcus Rojo who stuttered and stumbled with the ball in a horrific trance on the halfway line before thrashing straight to Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Armenian charged through on goal before Rojo’s recovering tackle inadvertently deflected the ball of Alexandre Lacazette and into his own net.

But then, just 13 seconds later, Sead Kolasinac again tried to outperform his opponent, playing an inch-perfect backpass to Jesse Lingard after Sokratis failed to clear a route one pass to Romelu Lukaku. Four individual errors in total which punctuated the game.

De Gea made a costly error to give Arsenal the lead (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

No antibiotics for Pogba virus...

Paul Pogba was vaccinated from Manchester United’s starting eleven after another reported dressing-room row in midweek. Instead, Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera dropped deep in midfield to create a type of back-seven legion which could be better suited to the parking of military tanks than a rickety old bus.

And although United were then fortified in the centre of the pitch, their turrets were unable to turn to effectively close of the wing.

And as the game descended into a type of erroneous bedlam, Pogba's twitching feet and wide-eyed vision may just have been able to add that decisive dose of creativity to take hold of of the match's wobbling stilts. Nevertheless, Mourinho only introduced his man after 75 minutes - the last of his changes. A damning indictment of the World Cup winner's fractious role in the squad.

Jesse Lingard scored the second equaliser for Manchester United (Getty) (Getty Images)

Emery backs his new hand…

Unai Emery caught Mauricio Pochettino off guard by gambling on a five-at-the-back formation against Spurs last Sunday. The last time the Spaniard had tested the formula was in a hapless foray against FC Qarabag in the Europa League two months ago, and it was abandoned after 45 minutes.

But after Arsenal’s Bosnian wing-back colossus Kolasinac bullied his way to such success against Spurs, Emery stayed true to the trial against Manchester United.

And after a tepid start, the thudding door of a man repeatedly began to exploit the space in the corridor between Diego Dalot and Eric Bailly. Each time Kolasinac ramrodded forward, United’s floorboards became creakier and it was on one such move where the corner which would be one leading to Mustafi’s opener. Whether Emery will return to his four when the injured Nacho Monreal returns, remains a mystery.

Captain Ramsey?

Not only was Aaron Ramsey given a rare reprieve from his pitchside perch for the first time in seven Premier League games against United, but the Welshman was handed the captain’s armband by Emery after impressing against Spurs - and scrunching Dele Alli’s shirt - last Sunday.

Lingering in narrow spaces between United’s centre-backs, Ramsey frequently found time and touch of the ball, yet somewhat struggled to cast influence or urgency on Arsenal’s play, aside from some cute interplay with Kolasinac on the left-wing.

After Ramsey was forced off at half-time with what appeared to be a hamstring injury and was replaced by Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Arsenal became increasingly incisive in attack perhaps providing evidence that despite his abundance of ability, Ramsey still remains very much ill-fitted to Unai Emery’s ideals.