A wall came crumbling down at the Emirates in spectacular fashion on Saturday night.
After keeping three consecutive clean sheets against Tottenham, Burnley and Huddersfield, Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Nacho Monreal were felled.
Yet again, social media was at the heart of Arsenal's downfall; Koscielny, the club's skipper, simply posted a photo of the trio's match worn shirts hung up with #stop ahead of Manchester United'svisit.
Within four minutes, the France international had inadvertently played Antonio Valencia in for United's stunning opener. Then, just seven minutes later, Mustafi was badly at fault as Jesse Lingarddoubled the visitors' lead.
But, the way David de Gea was playing, you would not have bet against the Spaniard keeping a clean sheet with that shambles of a defence in front of him.A wall came crumbling down at the Emirates in spectacular fashion on Saturday night.
After keeping three consecutive clean sheets against Tottenham, Burnley and Huddersfield, Laurent Koscielny, Shkodran Mustafi and Nacho Monreal were felled.
Yet again, social media was at the heart of Arsenal's downfall; Koscielny, the club's skipper, simply posted a photo of the trio's match worn shirts hung up with #stop ahead of Manchester United'svisit.
Within four minutes, the France international had inadvertently played Antonio Valencia in for United's stunning opener. Then, just seven minutes later, Mustafi was badly at fault as Jesse Lingarddoubled the visitors' lead.
But, the way David de Gea was playing, you would not have bet against the Spaniard keeping a clean sheet with that shambles of a defence in front of him.It was not just one save, which was enough to steal the headlines in helping United earn a precious point against both Stoke and Liverpool; it was four goal-saving stops evenly spread throughout the game.
Already, you can tot up those huge saves and convert them into five points gained. Five points United may have otherwise dropped in a season where de Gea is yet to make a major gaffe.
Then there was the small matter of the other 11 stops de Gea made in limiting Arsenal to just one goal from a whopping 15 shots on target. This what a real wall looks like, lads.
De Gea always seems to have the agility, instincts and pinpoint positioning to smother those point-blank efforts with a body part in the right place at the right time like few others in world football.
The psychological effect that has on a forward cannot be overstated; even team-mate Romelu Lukaku looked stunned as his, inadvertent, goal bound effort was clawed out by de Gea at the wrong end
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