Arsenal defender Riccardo Calafiori nodded in from close range in the 13th minute on Sunday after United back-up goalkeeper Altay Bayındır flapped at the ball from a corner whipped in by Declan Rice.

After finishing second for the past three seasons, the pressure is on Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to deliver the club’s first league title since 2003-04.

The Spaniard was left to depend on his reliable defence and goalkeeper David Raya to secure a huge three points as the visitors never fully got going as an attacking force.

United, meanwhile, fell to a loss that is all too familiar under Ruben Amorim following a woeful 15th-place finish last season by the struggling giants of English football.

United spent around 200 million pounds on revamping their attack in the preseason, with Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha starting the match and Benjamin Sesko coming off the bench in the second half.

Cunha and Mbeumo unsettled Arsenal’s normally unflappable centre-back pairing of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba early on.

Source: Channels