Arsenal – Manchester United – Match report

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

Rasmus Hojlund fired the Red Devils into an early lead, but Gabriel Jesus finished a fine pass to draw us level.

Fellow Brazilian Martinelli then came off the bench and cut his way through the United defense to head home our second and secure a deserved first win in our time in the States.

One goal each

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

However, we got off to the worst possible start when in the ninth minute Marcus Rashford cut a ball down the left flank for Hojlund, who beat Rai to push into the area, and when he was one-on-one with Karl Hein he shot through the legs of our keeper to give United the lead.

The Danish striker looked sharp in the opening exchanges and almost doubled his and his side’s lead minutes later when Aaron Wan-Bissaka raced down the right and sent into the center but the striker could only head it wide , but tweaked a hamstring in the process which saw him withdrawn.

That halted United’s early momentum and we capitalized to equalize on 26 minutes. Trossard fed Nwaneri on the edge of the area, who sent a pinpoint pass to the back post where Jesus showed his predatory instincts to be ideally placed to slot past a helpless Andre Onana.

Although we continued to grow in confidence as the first 45 progressed and passed the ball with confidence, we couldn’t find another sight of goal and indeed our best chance before the break came when Mason Mount at tested Hein with a fierce blast down the field. angle but the Estonian stopper pushed it to safety to keep us level at the interval.

The magic of Martinelli

It was more of the same in the early stages of the second half, but only a fine save from Onana prevented us from going in front.

Good interplay between Odegaard and Trossard saw the latter smash a close-range shot into the top corner, but the Cameroonian did brilliantly to tip over.

As the game wore on, Mikel threw on Gabriel, Kai Havertz and Martinelli in the opening minutes of pre-season, and the latter looked electric from the moment he was introduced. He constantly broke down the left flank, terrorizing the opposing defense, and with 10 minutes to go he made the biggest contribution of the game.

Retaking possession on the touchline, he sped towards the box, beat James Scanlon at all ends and then drilled the ball through the legs of Will Fish to find the net and send the largely Arsenal home crowd cheering.

United got the ball in the net in stoppage time when Jonny Evans headed in, however several attackers ganged up on Hein in the process and the goal was deservedly scored to secure victory against our old rivals.

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 the Emirates Stadium – Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday 7 August and the Emirates Cup clash with Lyon the following Sunday.