Huge setback for Arsenal! Chelsea overtook Arsenal in the table on Sunday, after the Gunners only secured a 1:1 draw against new Premier League champion Manchester United. Robin Van Persie returns to the Emirates for the first time since leaving the Gunners to rescue a point for the newly crowned Champions of England.
Arsenal started off by entering the pitch first and presenting Manchester United with a guard of honour out of respect and appreciation for the newly crowned champions. When the game was off and underway, the guard of honour was far at the back of all of the Gunners minds as they started the more promising team. With only 2 minutes on the clock, a mistake by Van Persie gave the ball to his former club who in a flash split United and presented Theo Walcott with a one on one opportunity in which he took with both hands blasting the ball past De Gea. As if a script had been written, Robin Van persie tucked away a penalty when Bacay Sagna brought him down in the box with an extremely rash challenege. This only added salt into the wounds off the North London side as they failed to create day light between themselves and their local rivals Tottenham Hotspurs.
The game was played at an intensive pace throughout with countless amounts of counter attacks during the match. The competitiveness of both sides seemed to rise to the occasion as 8 yellow cards where shown between the teams (Arsenal – 3 Man UTD – 5). The possession was almost evenly distributed as Arsenal had 52% and Man United 48% which shows how closely the game was played. The result doesn’t have a major impact on Manchester United’s position as they are already the Champions, but a point for the Gunners leaves them with a strong task to ensure their position in the Champions League spaces.