The 2025/26 Premier League season is underway, and we began it with three points on the board thanks to a 1-0 win against Manchester United.
Riccardo Calafiori grabbed the only goal of the game to settle things at Old Trafford, but there were many other impressive displays on the park as Mikel Arteta got the chance to see some of his new signings gel with familiar faces.
Adrian Clarke has pored through the footage again and dug into the stats to find out why we were victorious on matchday one:
RESILIENCE APLENTY
Struggling to find our usual flow or quality in possession, and with members of our back four being pulled out of position by Manchester United’s fluid ‘striker-less’ formation, this turned out to be a stern examination. Facing 22 shots in total, including seven that demanded saves from David Raya, there were several uncomfortable moments.
Yet as a collective, there should be pride felt in the indomitable spirit shown by our defensive players, who refused to buckle under pressure. Throwing bodies in the way of goal-bound shots, we frustrated the fired-up hosts with a series of brave blocks inside the danger zone.
Eight of those 22 efforts from United were blocked shots, with Gabriel leading the way individually with three. His centre-back partner William Saliba made two, with Ben White, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi also chipping in. Protecting our own box with terrific fortitude, this clean sheet was hard-earned.
DIFFERENT WAY OF ATTACKING
United’s forceful approach, coupled with some nervousness from Mikel Arteta’s players in possession, put us on the back foot at times. This meant that our usual control was lost, so the nature of the game forced us into creating a stream of attacks from transitions instead.
| MU | TRANSITIONS | ARS |
|---|---|---|
|
40 17 |
Transition Opportunities | 53 |
| Transitions Reaching Final Third | 15 | |
| 42.5% | Transitions Reaching Final Third % | 28.3% |
Martin Odegaard was regularly at the heart of matters, running at United’s defence with options ahead of him. The captain had the most touches among all our players (63) and made by some distance the greatest number of passes inside the final third (25). He also topped the rankings for possession won (7) and for successful dribbles (3).
While only 28.3% of those transitions reached the final third, the threat we carried in those situations does bode well for future matches, with smarter off-the-ball runs and an improved choice of pass likely to arrive as we sharpen up our play.
SET PIECE PROWESS CONTINUES
Since the start of 2023/24, we have now scored 31 goals from corner kicks, 11 more than any other Premier League team, and our dead balls proved pivotal again.
The winning goal this time around owed much to a wicked inswinging delivery from Rice. Perhaps aware that Altay Bayindir had conceded a goal straight from a corner against Tottenham Hotspur last season, he whipped a pacy, devilish cross under the crossbar that United’s custodian failed to deal with under pressure from Saliba.
We had five players in a line on the edge of the box prior to Rice’s kick, with Calafiori lurking at the back post.
While the ball was in flight, Gabriel Martinelli ran from the edge to pop up in front of the man at the near post, while Zubimendi crashed into one of the zonal markers inside the box which caused a distraction of sorts.
Saliba held his ground in front of the goalkeeper, restricting his space, and loitering at the far post, Calafiori anticipated the flight of the ball quicker than his marker Patrick Dorgu to bag our first of the campaign.
DASHING DISPLAY FROM CALAFIORI
In addition to scoring the only goal of the game, it shouldn’t be forgotten that it was the Italian’s tackle inside United’s box helped to win the corner that broke the deadlock.
Playing at left-back, he continuously took up advanced positions, both down the wing and in central areas. This heat map provides an indication of how intrepid Calafiori was:
The chaos and unpredictability this caused certainly made us a more threatening attacking side, but inevitably on occasion when possession was lost, Bryan Mbeumo was a problem down that side.
Had our distribution been better, Calafiori’s bold approach would have helped to create multiple chances, so finding the right balance moving forward is going to be important.
Raya to the rescue
While Opta did not credit United with the creation of a single ‘big chance’, we still needed a top-class display from Raya to walk away with all three points. He made one magnificent punch under pressure from Matthijs de Light in the second half, and two of his seven saves fell into the excellent category.
His dive low to the left to push away Mbeumo’s powerful header was a big moment, but Raya’s highlight was his reaction stop from Matheus Cunha in the first half.
While the angle was tight, our brilliant No.1 still had to react sharply to get down low with his left foot and push the ball away from danger. It was a fabulous reflex save that laid the platform for a valuable 1-0 success.
Copyright 2025 The Arsenal Football Club Limited. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source.
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