Arsenal vs. Manchester United: Ranking United's Players in the Emirates' Victory

Manchester United firmed their grip on second place in the Premier League and is back within three points of leaders Manchester City after they had too much for Arsenal at the Emirates and ran out 2-1 winners.

Here, we look at the United players on display and award their marks out of 10.

After a very quiet and largely uneventful first half—save for Phil Jones' awkward-looking injury—United came to life in injury time and took the lead thanks to an Antonio Valencia header from Ryan Giggs' cross.

Arsenal was better in the second period and, after Robin van Persie had spurned a gifted chance to equalise, did get itself back on level terms with an equaliser from the same man.

At that point it looked like the home team would go on to claim the three points—but Danny Welbeck got the all-important third goal of the game to send the away fans home happy instead.

Goalkeeper: Anders Lindegaard

Danish goalkeeper Anders Lindegaard was again preferred by Alex Ferguson to expensive summer signing David de Gea, who has had a drastic fall from grace since his error-strewn performance in the defeat against Blackburn Rovers.

Lindegaard was largely solid against the Gunners and did everything that could be expected of him; he was safe and assured in his handling, took several crosses from wide areas well and made a couple of routine stops in the first half.

Robin van Persie was the only one to beat him with a cross-goal shot into the far corner, but it was a well-angled drive and Lindegaard would have done extremely well to stop it.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also gave him a scare with a low drive, but all in all, it was a good performance from Lindegaard, whose distribution was also pretty much spot-on for once.

Lindegaard: 7/10

Full-Backs: Phil Jones and Patrice Evra

Phil Jones was restored to right-back after an injury absence of little more than a week—but his comeback lasted barely a quarter of an hour, as he twisted his ankle when facing up to Theo Walcott down the United right.

After some treatment, Jones was stretchered off to be replaced by Rafael da Silva. Later on, news filtered through that the injury wasn't too bad, and after the swelling goes down, Jones should be fine to recover in fairly quick fashion.

On the opposite side, Patrice Evra had his best game in some time after a month or more of extremely poor-to-average performances.

Evra constantly tested the Arsenal right-back—Johan Djourou in the first half, Nico Yannaris in the second—with his overlapping runs and willingness to support the United front line, and one winding run in the second half almost ended in an assist for another United goal.

Much better from the Frenchman who had been in very poor form prior to this game.

In defence, Eyra was pretty solid overall, though Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain did get away from him with pure pace once or twice early on in the game. Evra was also booked for a blatant foul on Walcott later on in the game.

Jones: NR

Evra: 8/10

Centre Backs: Johnny Evans and Chris Smalling

With Rio Ferdinand absent, Chris Smalling returned to the Manchester United defence to partner Johnny Evans, who continued his run in the team.

Neither defender had a great deal to do in the first half, as Arsenal struggled to impose any kind of quality or authority on the game in the final third.

In the second half they were kept much busier, especially Smalling, who found himself up against Robin van Persie several times.

Neither of the duo was able to close out the run of van Persie sufficiently for his well-taken goal, which went through Evans' legs on its route to the back of the United net while Smalling had, just moments earlier, gifted Arsenal a chance to draw level as his slip let in Tomas Rosicky.

Smalling was beaten once or twice by the good movement around him of Arsenal's front three and looked to be a little rusty after his recent lay-off.

Evans was largely solid, though at times the organisation of Ferdinand was missing, and had Arsenal been at the races a little earlier in this game, they might well have faced a more stern examination of their abilities.

Smalling: 6/10

Evans: 7/10

Central Midfielders: Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs

I don't know about Aaron Ramsey, the player who used to look up to Ryan Giggs as a kid, but I think Paul Scholes might have just been taught a bit of a lesson today by the Welsh elder statesman.

Giggs showed exactly how much influence an aging, leggy, rotation-suffering veteran can have on the game. He frequently popped up on either flank—despite also having an effect in the middle—to taunt the Arsenal defenders and show the odd burst of energy to scamper between two sets of legs as though he were still a sprightly winger.

The cross he provided from the left for Antonio Valencia's opener was pinpoint accurate, and he won several fouls on the opposite flank as he cut in from the right between the likes of Ramsey and Thomas Vermaelen on more than one occasion.

Michael Carrick was the much more quiet partner in midfield, playing plenty of neat passes in the first 45 minutes, and he was involved in more closing down and off-the-ball work in the second 45.

Carrick provided his usual effective shield for most of the tie, though as Arsenal got hold of the ball more in the second period he found it difficult to effectively manage the attacks from wider areas or stop the advancing runs of Tomas Rosicky through the centre—which might have proved costly.

Giggs: 8/10

Carrick: 7/10

Wingers: Antonio Valencia and Nani

Playing on the left-hand side, Nani had an extremely effective game and taunted Arsenal right-back Johan Djourou so much that the Swiss defender was withdrawn at the break, replaced by untested rookie Nico Yannaris.

Time and time again, Nani took on his man inside or outside and attempted to deliver telling crosses or short passes into the area, making a mockery of those who claim he is entirely unsuited or unable to play from the left flank.

Nani's influence waned somewhat after the break as Arsenal got hold of the ball more and more, and he resorted at times to trying to pick up the pieces in the centre of the pitch and breaking forward at pace through the middle.

One such occasion saw him tripped by Laurent Koscielny, ultimately meaning the Portuguese winger had to be replaced by Paul Scholes.

True to his overly-dramatical nature, Nani chose to hop his way off the pitch.

Valencia, for his part, showed good endeavour, but lacked the cutting edge and accuracy of his last performance, though his goal was very well taken and showed good aggression in attacking the ball in the air.

Later on in the match, Valencia reverted to right full-back as Park Ji-Sung entered the fray in midfield.

Valencia: 7/10

Nani: 8/10

Strikers: Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck

It was a game of contrasting fortunes for Manchester United's two first-choice strikers at the Emirates.

Wayne Rooney struggled to get involved at all, trying to first drop deep to link up with his teammates and then play wider, while at times also trying to start give-and-go's in the final third, but rarely did anything come off for him against Arsenal.

In the end he ended up giving the ball away a few times, and although he set away two or three of his teammates for promising-looking counter-attacks, they never came to anything meaningful for United.

Danny Welbeck, on the other hand, was largely on the periphery of the game in the first half. The game was too slow and congested in the middle of the park for his pace and finishing ability to shine, but in the second half, he was much more involved and ended up netting the winning goal with less than 10 minutes to go.

Welbeck was fairly well-marshalled by Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker, but he escaped their attentions on a couple of occasions, and his first-time finish to seal the three points was exemplary.

Rooney: 6/10

Welbeck: 7/10

Substitutes: Rafael Da Silva, Paul Scholes, Park Ji-Sung

Manchester United was forced into an early change when Phil Jones was stretchered off injured, leaving Rafael da Silva to come on in his place. Rafael put in a few strong challenges but was also beaten in one-on-one duals with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

One surge forward actually ended up in an Arsenal equaliser after Rafael was left out of position, but he did support his attacking teammates well—he himself was substituted later on. 

Paul Scholes replaced the presumably-stricken Nani with 15 minutes to go, but had no impact on the game.  

Park Ji-Sung came on less than a minute later in place of Rafael, but again did not really have time to get on the ball much in what remained of the game.  

da Silva: 7/10

Scholes: NR

Ji-Sung: NR