Arsenal vs. Manchester United score: Live Premier League updates as Eddie Nketiah scores twice for Gunners

Arsenal and Manchester United played out an absorbing five-goal Premier League encounter at Emirates Stadium on Sunday which keeps the Gunners five points clear at the summit. Mikel Arteta’s men left it late to seal a 3-2 win with Eddie Nketiah the hero with a double.

Marcus Rashford’s superb opener was canceled out by Nketiah’s header in the first half and Bukayo Saka’s sublime second-half strike was quickly leveled by Lisandro Martinez’s header. Nketiah then turned hero as his instinctive finish was validated by VAR to claim all three points for the hosts. 

Erik ten Hag’s men remain behind Newcastle United in fourth while Mikel Arteta’s side keep a five-point advantage over Manchester City, but this one was a Premier League classic regardless of the standings. Arsenal made a fast start to the encounter, but it was United who could have had a penalty early on when Bruno Fernandes went down after beating Aaron Ramsdale to a through ball.

That was the home side’s warning and they did not heed that as Rashford produced a moment of trickery followed by an excellent low strike after 17 minutes to give the Red Devils the lead. Rashford’s post-FIFA 2022 World Cup form has been scintillating with United and it continued here with a brilliant goal to silence the Emirates home support.

They were not quiet for long, though, with Nketiah heading home Granit Xhaka’s ball in to pull the hosts level just seven minutes after Rashford’s opener. It was a well-worked goal and no less than Arsenal deserved after a good start which could have easily produced an early goal, but Ramsdale had to be alert to keep Scott McTominay out before the break.

Martinez denied Xhaka early in the second half with a superb tackle, but there was nothing that any of his United teammates could do about the moment of magic from Saka just eight minutes into the second half. The England international unleashed a stunning left-footed effort to level Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg with three consecutive scoring appearances against United.

We were all level by the hour mark, though, as a Christian Eriksen corner was only half cleared by Ramsdale and Martinez’s lopping header dropped in to silence the home crowd again. Martin Odegaard was denied a chance to make it 3-2 with a good block and Leandro Trossard was thrown on for his debut late on, but it took a late instinctive finish from Nketiah to seal the win.