Super Eagles and Arsenal forward Alex Iwobi was in his superlative form Saturday at the Emirates as he turned into a tormentor in chief against visiting Manchester United.
Although the visitors were to business minded for the Gunners to handle especially in the first half where they grabbed two goals in a quickie thanks to Valencia and Lingard, a workaholic Iwobi piled up pressure especially in the second half giving united goalkeeper David de Gea a lot to worry about.
Iwobi had come in as 15th minute substitute for Shkodran Mustafi.
It was Alexander Lacazette who scored a 49th minute goal to reduce the tally against Arsenal which the Gunners fought hard with intent to consolidate but the effort was again perforated by Lingard who grabbed the third goal via a counter attack and Paul Pogba’s deadly pass converted by Paul Lingard.
It was however not all smiles for Manchester United as star player Paul Pogba got the marching orders after rough tackle on Spain international Bellerin in the 74th minute with United still leading 1-3.
One of the highlights of the match was lamentation by Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho following yellow card handed Laurent Koscielny instead of a red in the 87th minute. Iwobi’s regular effort in combination with Sanchez with intent to remedy the situation even with five minutes extra time given failed to prevent the visitors from running away with their well-deserved three points. The visitors showed their superiority with incredible 34 shots on goal.
Manchester United have thus closed the gap on Premier League leaders Manchester City to five points courtesy of a 3-1 win over Arsenal in a frantic and thrilling contest
Jose Mourinho has often been criticised for his negative tactics away to top-six rivals, but his side capitalised on defensive errors to race into a 2-0 lead after just 11 minutes in North London.
Arsenal had a proud 12-match winning streak to protect in front of their own fans and fought back, but despite creating a plethora of first-half chances they were forced to wait until the opening stages of the second half to pull a goal back through Alexandre Lacazette.