Jurrien Timber and William Saliba scored from corners to give Arsenal a 2-0 victory over Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, cutting the gap with Premier League leader Liverpool and ending Ruben Amorim's unbeaten start.
The Gunners threatened from set pieces, but little else, in a strangely subdued first half, with Thomas Partey unable to direct a dangerous Declan Rice corner into the net that the injured defender Gabriel may well have converted.
United goalkeeper Andre Onana twice needed to punch clear from corners, with the second presenting a half-chance for Gabriel Martinelli, who sliced his shot high and wide.
The visitor was content to slow the game down and retain possession, and went close before the break when Diogo Dalot dragged an effort wide from a tight angle.
Arsenal was sharper after the restart and took the lead from another Rice corner in the 54th minute, with Timber heading in at the near post.
▲ Arsenal's Jurrien Timber celebrates scoring his team's first goal in a 2-0 win over Manchester United in an English Premier League match on Wednesday. REUTERS
United nearly leveled from a set piece of its own shortly after, but David Raya produced a superb fingertip save at full stretch to claw away Matthijs de Ligt's goalbound header.
Arsenal put the game to bed in the 73rd minute, when Partey's header from a Bukayo Saka delivery bounced off Saliba and in for Arsenal's 22nd league goal from a corner since the start of last season.
"Until the set pieces, the game didn't have too many opportunities for both sides. The set pieces killed the game," Amorim told the BBC.
Rice nearly added a third before substitute Mikel Merino headed past the post from the resulting corner, as each set piece generated a roar of expectation.
Arsenal saw the game out to capitalize on Liverpool's draw at Newcastle United, with the victory putting it third, behind Chelsea on goal difference, on 28 points from 14 games — with the gap between the Gunners and Liverpool cut to seven points.
During a small wobble while influential captain Martin Odegaard was injured, critics had questioned Arsenal's title credentials, but Rice said that was premature.
"People get carried away with the title talk," he told Amazon Prime. "I was involved in my first one last year and you just need to be in and around it in February."
His manager Mikel Arteta told reporters: "It's true that we went through a lot in that period ... you have to react.
Today, now we've won four in a row — it doesn't matter, we have to go to Fulham and be better than they are."
Amorim's first loss as United manager — and his first league defeat since his former club Sporting was beaten by Vitoria de Guimaraes in December, 2023 — left it 11th on 19 points.
Amorim saw positives from United, especially in the first half.
"I make the evaluation of a game regardless of the result," he told reporters. "The 4-0 (win against Everton), you can take positive things, but you have to improve, and you already knew that.
"You can feel it in the first half, especially at the end of the first half, you can feel that they were not comfortable. You can feel it in the stadium, so you can take that."
