Arsenal were knocked out by Manchester United in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday night. Goals from Alexis Sanchez, Jesse Lingard, and Anthony Martial gave United a 3-1 win over the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium. Aubameyangs first-half goal wasnt enough as Unai Emerys side were completely picked apart by Ole Gunnar Solskjaers Manchester United side. The result means that its an eighth consecutive win for Solskjaer who has revitalised and rejuvenated this United side.
Arsenal lineup
Arsenal played a similar formation to the one that defeated Chelsea last week. The home side was forced into swapping Hector Bellerin for Ainsley Maitland-Niles following the formers ACL tear against Chelsea. Petr Cech started in goal replacing Bernd Leno. Alex Iwobi was also offered a start on the left flank to provide width.
Against Chelsea, the strike duo of Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang operated centrally. On this occasion, Aubameyang started in a wider role on the right flank to compensate for Bellerins absence and provide more width. Lucas Torreira and Granit Xhaka started in a double pivot in midfield. Arsenal started the game positively but were dealt a cruel blow as Sokratis Papastathopoulos was forced off with an injury.
Manchester United lineup
With Solskjaer settling on his preferred lineup, United were set up in their familiar 4-4-2 diamond midfield. Sergio Romero started in goal behind the centre-back pairing of Viktor Lindelof and Eric Bailly. Both Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic started in midfield to offer more defensive support. Paul Pogba was tasked with providing creativity and drive from midfield behind the two split forwards in Romelu Lukaku and Sanchez. Lingard played as a false nine with clear defensive duties in blocking Arsenals transitional play.
Defensive chaos
Arsenal are not a defensively strong side. Coming into this game, there was an apprehension that Uniteds pace in attack was a far sterner test than Chelseas and that Arsenal would inevitably implode defensively. These fears were well founded as Arsenal were ruthlessly picked apart by Uniteds counter-attacking approach.
In the initial stages of the game, United were happy to let th
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