Jesse Lingard ensures Manchester United salvage draw with Arsenal

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:26 am

Manchester United and Arsenal played to a 2-2 draw on Wednesday night that saw both sides miss on several chances take the victory. 

The draw keeps United without a Premier League victory in four matches while Unai Emery's men were unable get their first win in 12 league attempts at Old Trafford. 

It was the first clash between the old rivals since 1986 not featuring either Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger in the dugout.

United manager Jose Mourinho made substantive changes to United's lineup from their 2-2 draw with Southampton over the weekend, notably keeping Paul Pogba and and Romelu Lukaku on the bench for the start of the match. 

Arsenal took the lead in the 26th minute when United goalkeeper David De Gea mishandled Shkodran Mustafi's header off Lucas Torreira's cross, which dropped behind De Gea and out of reach of Ander Herrera's attempt to clear.

The lead, however, did not last long as Anthony Martial brought the home side back four minutes later. Following Bernd Leno's diving save off Marcos Rojo's free kick, Herrera saved the ball from rolling out, crossing it back to Martial for the equaliser. 

The concluding minutes of the first-half turned testy as Arsenal defender Rob Holding has forced off with an injury in the 36th minute, followed by a rash of five yellow cards between the two sides. 

Injury concerns mounted for Arsenal as captain Aaron Ramsey, who seemed bothered with a knock right before halftime, was replaced by former United man Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Arsenal went back up in the 68th minute when Rojo coughed up the ball at midfield to Mkhitaryan, who played it through to Alexandre Lacazette for the finish. 

United levelled immediately when Jesse Lingard caught the Arsenal defence flat-footed and blasted the ball past Leno. 

De Gea, having settled in following his first-half gaffe, kept United in the match with a fine save off Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's shot. The Spain international was called on again to bail his side in the waning minutes with another clutch save off Lucas Torreira's attempt. 

Arsenal, who slipped to fifth place, are now unbeaten in their last 20 games in all competitions while United are in eight place, eight points off the top four.