Manchester United are still suffering from the hangovers of their mid week match against PSG whom they threw out of the UEFA Champions League and it seems it has contributed to their first Premier League match in the hands of Arsenal at the Emirates
You’d be a wrong to think this result affects Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s job prospects one iota.
The decision-makers at Manchester United will know that their Sunday loss to Arsenal is a bump in the road rather than any kind of evidence that a more experienced manager could do better.
As a matter of fact, do we really even need to have that debate after Wednesday night and PSG?
This was United’s first Premier League defeat since Solskjaer inherited Jose Mourinho’s mess in December. The Old Trafford club have come from a mile back to even be involved in a race for Champions League qualification they’d had no right to think about back then.
When Mourinho was handed his P45 by Ed Woodward, they were 11 points off the top four, 13 points off third and going absolutely nowhere.
Even with defeat here at the Emirates, they are just three points off a third-placed Spurs side who right now look to be imploding.
United hit a post, the bar and forced two fine saves from Bernd Leno. Not only that, you’d still fancy them for a top four finish ahead of an Arsenal side that can pull off stunning results like this one minute, then get beaten away to BATE Borisov and Rennes the next.
Both Arsenal’s goals had an element of luck about them.
The swirling wind that caused chaos up and down the country throughout Sunday saw David de Gea misjudge the flight of a Granit Xhaka shot he’d normally catch while eating his breakfast.
Ref Jon Moss, who looks as though he likes a bit of breakfast, then pointed to the spot for the softest of penalties as Fred brushed against Alexandre Lacazette in the box.
Not one for missing an opportunity, Lacazette wasted no time in going down.To be fair to Arsenal, Leno was inspired and their defence outstanding as they recorded only their third Premier League clean sheet since December.
For United, however, this was only a second defeat in 18 since before Christmas.The big picture remains a run that has yielded 14 wins and two draws in their other 16 matches.
Yes, there are tough tests to come against Manchester City and Chelsea, but both those games will be at home.
Solskjaer wore a rueful smile at the final whistle as he shook the hand of Unai Emery.The Spaniard had won the battle, but the Norwegian will still believe he can win the war.