It is fair to say that Arsenal did not play one of their better games of the season and were certainly the second best team to Manchester United in a game that failed to deliver a classic as much of the play was mediocre to say the least. United did create the better chances and were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when it looked like Nacho Monreal did foul United’s Antonio Valencia in the Arsenal box in the first half but the Gunners were very fortunate that referee Andre Marriner did not award the Red-Devils with a penalty which they seemed to deserved. Naturally this incident caused United boss Jose Mourinho to go into meltdown as he cut a very frustrated and angry figure on the touchline after the incident.

Alexis Sanchez did play for Arsenal but appeared with his thigh heavily strapped as a result of his exploits for Chile in the international break and the forward did not look like his usual self and did not have his usual influence in the game. After Juan Mata had put United ahead on 69 minutes as he converted an Ander Herrera cut-back with a sweet left footed strike the 3 points looked to be staying in the North West of England. United seemed to be in control and to be heading for the win as they managed a solid defensive display which contained Arsenal’s attacking threat to a minimum. The Gunners only had one decent chance on goal before substitute Olivier Giroud headed in the equaliser from an Oxlade-Chamberlain cross very much against the run of play with 1 minute left in the game.

While Mourinho maintained his unbeaten run vs Wenger  – now 12 games without a loss – he would have been very satisfied with his side’s display until the last minute which saw them clearly the better team but it meant little in the end as they could not close out the win and claim the invaluable 3 points. On the other hand to claim a point shows Arsenal are perhaps beginning to become more of a title winning outfit – managing to claim points or avoid defeats when they really have no business doing so – a trait which bodes well for Wenger’s men and is the sign of a club who has the resilience to win (or at least not lose) when they really don’t deserve to.

As the BBC reported Arsene Wenger had this to say in the post match interview with Sky Sports:

“The result in the end is positive for us because we were 1-0 down with two minutes to go.

“The players who came on made a massive difference today. When you are 1-0 down and come back to 1-1 of course you have to feel happy.

“We lacked a bit of sharpness today. What is it down to I don’t know but at least we came back.”

So Arsenal used one of their get out of jail free passes today and will move on to their Champions League home match against PSG on Wednesday in good spirits knowing that they will need an improved performance if they are to win the game which will likely decide the fate of their Group qualification.