Manchester United battle to draw with Arsenal, Liverpool march on
LONDON (Reuters) - Manchester United remain distant spectators in a Premier League title race in which Liverpool continue to chase Manchester City but showed plenty of spirit as they twice equalised in a 2-2 draw with in-form Arsenal at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Liverpool also fell behind but stormed back to beat Burnley 3-1 and cut the gap on leaders Manchester City to two points.
Tottenham Hotspur climbed to third with a 3-1 win over Southampton while Chelsea hung on to fourth spot, above Arsenal on goal difference, despite a 2-1 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers who ended a run of six games without a win.
Storm clouds have been gathering over Jose Mourinho’s misfiring United side and on a wet night in the north west they again looked well short of being contenders for the top four.
It was the first United v Arsenal clash since 1986 not featuring either Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger in the dugout.
On this occasion it was Wenger’s successor Unai Emery who would had more to be satisfied as his Arsenal side stretched their unbeaten run to 20 matches — although United boss Jose Mourinho also took comfort from a result that left his side 18 points behind leaders Manchester City.
“This is a performance of big soul and heart,” Mourinho said. “But even from our bench you could feel the little panic when the ball comes to our defensive third.”
Mourinho, who left Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku out of his starting lineup, said his side “scored all four goals”.
He could not have expected keeper David de Gea to suffer the sort of panic that keeps undermining his side.
De Gea should have comfortably held Shkodran Mustafi’s 26th-minute downward header but merely juggled it over his head and over the line.
Anthony Martial levelled six minutes later from close range, Ander Herrera pulling the ball back after Marcos Rojo’s free kick was well-saved by Bernd Leno.
Rojo forced Leno into a fine save but it was Arsenal who led again in the 68th minute when Alexandre Lacazette got the final touch but the advantage lasted less than a minute as Arsenal’s defence allowed Jesse Lingard to steal in and slide a shot under Leno.
De Gea made crucial late saves to deny Arsenal a first league win at Old Trafford since 2006.
“I think we controlled the game, the second half better than the first,” Emery said. “We could have won this match in certain moments, but they equalised very quickly after both our goals.”
