Arsenal’s home field advantage didn’t bode well against a Manchester United team that Arsene Wenger believed his side could’ve beaten.
The Red Devils squeaked out a 1-0 triumph over Crystal Palace last week, and lost to Manchester City the week before, while Arsenal was hoping to get back on track following a 2-1 defeat to Swansea City in Round 11 play.
The French boss specifically noted that his side had outplayed United, and there were stats to supports his claims, with the Gunners enjoying 61 percent possession and getting nine shots on target in the entire 90 minutes. An opportune own-goal from Kieran Gibbs and a late Wayne Rooney score sunk the spirit of supporters at the Emirates.
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A 90-minute blast from Olivier Giroud merely halved the scoreline, and Wenger was left in utter despair at the chances missed during the match.
“It’s a game that we dominated for 80 percent of the time and it’s a long time since we dominated games against Man United like we did today,” said Wenger, via Goal.com. But at the end of the day we were not efficient enough in the final third offensively and made a mistake at the back and they took advantage of it.
“We had plenty of chances, their keeper [David de Gea] was man of the match but that was the story of the game. We played with freedom and we pressed them very high. We won balls back and had plenty of opportunities to finish this game off.”
Arsenal will next have a mid-week Champions League clash vs. Borussia Dortmund and then a match against West Brom three days later.