Manchester United Beat Arsenal 3-1 in Premier League Match of the Year Contender

Manchester United and Arsenal served up a fantastic showpiece on Saturday, with the Red Devils beating the Gunners 3-1 in the Premier League at the Emirates Stadium.

Antonio Valencia and Jesse Lingard needed just 11 minutes to give the visitors a two-goal lead, setting up a fantastic half of football. Arsenal had countless chances but only found the breakthrough after half-time. Alexandre Lacazette pulled the goal back, but Lingard restored the two-goal advantage.

Paul Pogba was sent off for a bad tackle on Hector Bellerin, setting up a tense finale, but United held on for the win despite late pressure from the hosts. 

Here's a look at the team sheet, via Arsenal presenter Nigel Mitchell:

The match couldn't have started any worse for the hosts, who gifted United the lead after just four minutes. Laurent Koscielny lost the ball to Valencia, who played a quick one-two with Pogba before firing home.

FB Whispers' Andrew Gibney thought it was exactly what Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho wanted:

United proved ruthlessly efficient, and Lingard finished off a good passing move after yet another defensive blunder, this time from Shkodran Mustafi.

Bleacher Report's Karl Matchett described what went wrong:

To make matters worse, Mustafi came off the pitch with an injury shortly after and was replaced by Alex Iwobi.

David De Gea made a save to deny Lacazette, and a deflected effort from Aaron Ramsey nearly found its way in, although the offside flag went up late.

On 33 minutes, an absurd sequence saw Sanchez's initial shot deflect off the crossbar before Granit Xhaka's rebound struck the post. Gibney noted the initial save from De Gea was extraordinary:

The end-to-end action continued, as Petr Cech was forced to block Sead Kolasinac's attempted interception from ending up in his own net. De Gea denied Mesut Ozil with another good save, and even when Ramsey appeared to have the goal begging, he was denied by Nemanja Matic.

The half ended with two more chances for the hosts, but neither Kolasinac nor Hector Bellerin could beat De Gea.

Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe loved what he was seeing:

The Gunners dominated most of the first half and didn't change their approach after the break. It led to a goal almost immediately, as Sanchez found Ramsey, who laid the ball off to Lacazette for the finish.

Matchett was still entertained:

And the action didn't end there. Cech made a great save, tipping a shot from Lingard onto the post, and it bounced out. 

Iwobi also got in on the action, drawing a save from De Gea and missing with a shot just minutes later. Lacazette and Sanchez also tried their luck, but once again, De Gea was on point.

Tom Coast of Sport Witness weighed in on the performance from the Spaniard:

And his barrage of saves paid off on the other side of the pitch, where Pogba turned yet another blunder from Koscielny into an assist for Lingard.

De Gea continued his superhuman efforts with another fine save on Sanchez, and Arsenal's attacks came with less conviction as they appeared to lose faith. 

The game was put back on a knife edge with 16 minutes to play after Pogba saw red for a dangerous challenge on Bellerin. He will now miss the derby against Manchester City next week.

Tighe weighed in on the decision:

With the numbers advantage, Arsenal pushed forward again. Danny Welbeck had a shot tipped over the bar, and there were appeals for a hand ball inside the box as well. 

There was also time for some pushing and shoving after Matteo Darmian brought down Welbeck in the box. No penalty given, but Ander Herrera and Sanchez were booked after clashing over the incident. 

Marcos Rojo got away with a late lunge on Lacazette, again avoiding a penalty, before Andre Marriner finally called an end to a fantastic match of football.