Lys Mousset marked his first league start for Sheffield United by scoring the goal that sent the home side into the top half of the table and intensified doubts about Arsenal’s direction of travel. Unai Emery’s team would have vaulted to third with a win here but never looked worthy of that perch. Chris Wilder’s side were the more coherent and clinical.
Verily, the wailing about Arsenal’s deficiencies will be loud, shrill and justified. But do not let that drown out praise for Wilder and his men. This time 12 months ago they lost to Derby County in the Championship; now they are ninth in the Premier League after deservedly beating a club from another financial dimension. As a collective they are mighty and within that unit there were some outstanding individual performances here. Mousset was given the man-of-the-match award for his predatory strike on the half-hour but there were many candidates, not least John Fleck, John Egan and Enda Stevens.
As for Arsenal, oh dear. They were not atrocious in the slapstick way they can be; they were just sadly inadequate, a simulacrum of a top side exposed by a true team. Emery insisted his side did not deserve to lose but his reasoning was a little hopeful. “I appreciate the work that [United] have done but we had more possession, created more chances and had 12 corners to seven,” he said.
In fairness to Emery his team made a decent start to this latest attempt to put on a commanding show on the road. He knew his side would need steel in Sheffield. The question was whether he could find the formula to produce it from a squad who have been maddeningly brittle on their travels for several years. They had suffered only one away defeat in the league this season before this – at Anfield – but they had not been convincing even when taking points.
Yet for a while here they looked tight and balanced – that is progress for them, even if creativity was in short supply. After defending a series of early corners the visitors had a strong shout for a penalty when Egan got hold of Sokratis’ shirt in the home box. The referee saw nothing awry.
United unlocked the visitors with lovely interplay in the 20th minute, David McGoldrick and Fleck combining before the intrepid Stevens drilled the ball into the danger zone. Mousset could not flick it into the net from six yards. Pépé was guilty of a far worse miss moments later, swatting wide from close range after a sweeping counter-attack and a low cross from Sead Kolasinac. “That was key,” said Emery, saying the worst thing a team can do against Wilder’s side is concede first. “If they score the first goal then defensively they are very strong.”
So the Spaniard was aghast, but probably not surprised, when Arsenal’s apparent solidity was exposed as an illusion on the half-hour. United’s fifth corner of the game brought the breakthrough. Matteo Guendouzi got lost under Ollie Norwood’s delivery, Jack O’Connell headed the ball back across goal and Mousset slotted home from three yards. A £10m recruit from Bournemouth in the summer, Mousset had begun repaying Wilder’s faith in him by scoring off the bench against Everton last month; but netting on his first start endeared him even more to the Bramall Lane crowd. “He had a situation at Bournemouth where he was playing behind two really good strikers, Callum Wilson and Joshua King, and we’ve hopefully found a home for him here,” said Wilder.
Arsenal tried to fight back immediately but were rumbled for simulation, Bukayo Saka being booked for falling in the box as Egan closed in. Arsenal coach Freddie Ljungberg also saw yellow for giving lip from the sidelines.
Arsenal forced United backwards for the remainder of the first half but the hosts defended well. The only save Henderson had to make was from a long shot by Granit Xhaka.
Arsenal came out for the second half full of determination to equalise but United were just as adamant that they would not be allowed to. Arsenal had plenty of the ball but could not prise open the hosts. It was hard not to think that Mesut Özil would have been a useful option at a time like this, but Emery had not even included him in the squad. One wondered whether Aubemeyang was having similar thoughts as he waited in vain for a pass he could use. Or perhaps he was meditating on the purpose of Pépé, whose performance here offered few clues. “He is getting better little by little,” reckoned Emery.
The Ivorian went close with a long-range shot before being hauled off in the 78th minute. Alexandre Lacazette had already been introduced by then but the closest Arsenal came to an equaliser was when Calum Chambers let fly from the right-hand side of the box. But, as ever, a United player got in the way.
