The 2025–26 Premier League opening gameweek is nearly in the books following Arsenal’s 1–0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford.
A historic rivalry was renewed on Sunday afternoon with a raucous crowd providing the backing track to the spotlight fixture of the week. Arsenal went ahead in the first half through Riccardo Calafiori to open the scoring. Before then, and well after, Man Utd were on top for most of the game. The Red Devils had more of the ball, looked more dangerous in attack and fired 22 shots. Though, they were unable to find a way back into the game with seven of those on target.
In the end, Arsenal will take the three points given their long-standing struggles at Old Trafford—though, not under Mikel Arteta—but the performance overall needs improvement. A game that promised fireworks given Benjamin Šeško and Viktor Gyökeres were going head-to-head yielded just one goal from 31 shots.
For Man Utd, a performance that shows how dangerous this team can be. They have to put it all together, though, to remedy any sour feelings remaining from a 15th place finish last season.
