Three Things We Learned after Arsenal beat Manchester United at Old Trafford  

Here's the return of Ian Mills' series Three Things We Learned after Arsenal won 1-0 at Manchester United through a 13th minute Riccardo Calafiori header 

Here are three things that stood out for me, writes Ian Mills

1 - Winning whilst not playing well

- we have played much better away to United over the years and returned to London with nothing to show for our efforts, indeed this win was only our sixth at Old Trafford in the Premier League era.

The ‘Theatre of Dreams’ has been the venue of many a broken Arsenal one far too many times in the past. Grinding out a victory whilst not playing well is a great habit to get into and (whisper it quietly) the mark of Champions.

United were good for long periods however their deficiencies in goal remain a glaring weakness and with Onana injured, Bayindir was between the sticks. It was the latter’s error from Declan Rice’s corner that presented an unmissable opportunity for Riccardo Calafiori to head home the game’s only goal.

 2 - Left wing and attack toothless

– Gabi Martinelli got the nod to start on the left of our midfield, yet this was another ineffectual display from the Brazilian. Amid transfer speculation surrounding Leandro Trossard, Noni Madueke replaced Martinelli in the second half yet did little to improve our attacking efficiency.

Viktor Gyokeres lasted just under an hour yet starved of any real service it was a frustrating debut. Bukayo Saka also struggled to make any impression. Martin Odegaard offered our brightest attacking moments yet was let down by team mates not being on his wavelength.

Despite six summer signings and accepting this was match week one, we still appear short of a game changer, and it remains to be seen whether they will be any further additions before the transfer window shuts on September 1.

3 - Defensive resilience to the fore

– one of the great strengths in our trio of second place finishes has been the quality of our defence and here it was tested once more.

Gabriel and William Saliba both started nervously yet having grown into the game, they formed a rock-solid display with bodies on the line to thwart United’s regular attacks.

Behind them David Raya was both calm and assured and made a couple of notable stops firstly scooping a close range effort from Cunha away from his goalline and then springing to his left to deny Mbeumo’s header from levelling the score.

Matchwinner Calafiori and Ben White, along with second half replacements – Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jurrien Timber were all pretty solid as we grinded out a vital win.