Report: Arsenal 2-1 Manchester United

We came from behind to beat Manchester United in SoFi Stadium, with Gabriel Martinelli netting a superb winner.

Rasmus Hojlund fired the Red Devils into an early lead, but Gabriel Jesus finished off a neat passing move to draw us level.

Fellow Brazilian Martinelli then came off the bench and sliced his way through the United defence to power home our second, and secure a deserved first win during our time Stateside.

A goal apiece

Mikel Arteta opted to bring a bit more experience into his side from the start, and Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus were all selected, with youngsters Ethan Nwaneri and Ayden Heaven given a chance to shine.

However we got off to the worst possible start when in the ninth minute, Marcus Rashford clipped a ball down the left flank for Hojlund who got the better of Heaven to push into the area, and when faced one-on-one with Karl Hein he fired through our keeper’s legs to hand United the lead.

The Danish striker was looking sharp in the early exchanges and nearly doubled his and his team’s lead a few minutes later after when Aaron Wan-Bissaka sped down the right and sent it a low centre but the striker could only steer it over, but tweaked a hamstring in the process that saw him withdrawn.

That halted United’s early momentum and we capitalised by getting ourselves back level on 26 minutes. Trossard fed Nwaneri on the edge of the area who sent a pinpoint pass towards the back post where Jesus showed his predatory instinct to be ideally placed to tap past a helpless Andre Onana.

While we continued to grow in confidence as the opening 45 progressed and passed the ball around confidently, we couldn’t quite find another sight of goal, and indeed the best opportunity before the break came when Mason Mount tested Hein with a fierce blast on the angle but the Estonian stopper pushed it to safety to keep us level at the interval.

Martinelli magic

It was more of the same in the initial stages of the second half, but only a fine save by Onana kept us from getting in front.

Some fine interplay between Odegaard and Trossard saw the latter fizz a shot from close range towards the top corner, but the Cameroonian did brilliantly to tip it over.

As the game went on, Mikel threw on Gabriel, Kai Havertz and Martinelli for their first minutes of pre-season, and the latter looked electric from the moment he was introduced. He constantly tore down the left flank terrorising the opposition defence, and with 10 minutes to go made the game’s biggest contribution.

Again picking up possession on the touchline, he sped towards the box, beat James Scanlon all ends up and then drilled the ball through Will Fish’s legs to find the net and send the largely Arsenal crowd home happy.

United did get the ball in the net in stoppage-time when Jonny Evans headed in, however a couple of attackers bundled into Hein in the process and the goal was rightly chalked off, and secured the win over our old rivals.

POST-MATCH SHOOTOUT

Following the game, a pre-decided penalty shootout took place, which saw United triumph 4-3. 

After Fabio Vieira and Scott McTominay netted the opening two kicks, Onana made an excellent save to deny Havertz, and when Jonny Evans netted from 12 yards, Jakub Kiwor steered his effort wide of the target to put United in the ascendency.

Ethan Wheatley then also dragged his attempt off target to give us hope, but after Martinelli, Christian Eriksen and Gabriel all scored, Jaydon Sancho tucked away the decisive penalty to give his side a crumb of comfort.
 

What's next

We now head to Philadelphia for a game against Liverpool on Wednesday, July 31 at Lincoln Financial Field. Tickets are still available, or you can watch live on Arsenal.com by purchasing a Match Pass.

After that, we return to the UK for a pair of friendlies at Emirates Stadium - Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, August 7, and the Emirates Cup meeting with Lyon the following Sunday.