Arsenal 3 Man Utd 1: Rice and Jesus turn game on its head in stunning late drama to see off Ten Hag’s patched up side
DECLAN RICE and Gabriel Jesus propelled Arsenal to a dramatic late victory on a day of raging VAR controversy at the Emirates.
Rice, the £105million summer signing from West Ham, lashed home his first goal for the Gunners in the 96th minute after both teams had been spewing about decisions from Stockley Park official Jarred Gillett.
And sub Gabriel Jesus raced clear to thump home the killer third with a gorgeous finish in the dying seconds to secure a deserved victory for Mikel Arteta’s side.
First Arsenal were convinced they had been denied a penalty on the hour when Kai Havertz was upended by Aaron Wan-Bissaka, only for an overly-busy Gillet to overturn the decision of ref Anthony Taylor.
Then Manchester United saw an Alejandro Garnacho 87th-minute strike chalked off by Gillett for a fag-paper offside decision which looked far from certain.
But Rice, who had been excellent in his deep-lying midfield role, chested down a Saka corner and beat United keeper Andre Onana at his near post with help from a Jonny Evans deflection to secure Arsenal’s third win in four games.
Then Jesus latched on to a Fabio Vieira pass and swivelled past Diogo Dalot before he leathered in the third.
Earlier Martin Odegaard swiftly cancelled out Marcus Rashford’s first-half opener on a day when Arsenal enjoyed the better chances but often looked vulnerable.
Here were two sides who had failed to convince in their opening three fixtures and the early exchanges were suitably disjointed.
Arsenal did most of the attacking but after a crunching challenge from Rice had won possession, Havertz – already infuriating a large section of the Gunners support – completely duffed his shot from six yards out before Lisandro Martinez denied Eddie Nketiah an easy chance.
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It got worse for Havertz when the £65million German’s lazy pass was intercepted by Christian Eriksen, who broke forward and found Rashford with an angled through-ball.
Rashford cut inside from the left and, as Ben White stood off him, curled a delicious shot inside the far post.
You wondered what Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, from the golden age of this fixture, would make of Havertz wafting around this midfield.
Still, Arsenal were level within a minute when England new boy Nketiah fed Gabriel Martinelli and his cut-back found Odegaard in space, allowing the skipper to ram his shot past Onana.
Victor Lindelof was soon booked for mowing down Nketiah with an ugly challenge by the touchline to halt an Arsenal break.
Saka was then cautioned for a nasty lunge at Bruno Fernandes, while he was being fouled by Dalot.
It was fractious and feisty, like Arsenal-United fixtures of old. All that was missing was any sustained degree of quality.
United, bang-average overall, always possessed a counter-attacking threat.
Earlier in the second half, Anthony Martial’s shot was pushed out by Aaron Ramsdale, with Rashford’s follow-up effort expertly blocked by the excellent William Saliba.
Then, just before the hour, raging controversy arrived – and you had to feel for poor old Havertz.
The German finally put a fut right with a neat touch from a cute Nketiah and he appeared to be clipped on the ankle and nudged over by Aaron Wan-Bissaka, as Casemiro also converged on the German.
Taylor pointed to the spot but, bizarrely, his VAR Jarred Gillett claimed a clear and obvious error and the ref went to his monitor and sucked it up.
The ‘high bar’ on VAR overturns this season was now being lowered to world limbo championship levels.
Arteta fumed, along with the vast majority of the Emirates, but United were buoyed by their let-off.
Martinez, their best player for the opening hour, had injured himself in a wild challenge on Nketiah, and was replaced by Harry Maguire as Rasmus Hojlund arrived for a debut in place of Martial.
And Ten Hag’s team began to show greater attacking ambition.
Havertz was put out of misery, hooked to make way for Fabio Vieira, while Jesus arrived up top.
United, though, were opened up by a precise passing move, White feeding Saka, who shot straight at Onana from close range when he ought to have buried the chance.
Garnacho thought he had won it for United in the 87th minute, yet after running on to a Casemiro through-ball and firing past Ramsdale, VAR found him marginally offside when the naked eye suggested Gabriel had been playing him on.
Then came the late, late drama as Rice and Jesus nailed the victory and Ten Hag’s shocking away record against leading Premier League sides continued.