The Red Devils have many reasons to be cheerful after their latest scalp, but the north Londoners are edging towards another trophy-less season
The most enticing tie of the FA Cup third round was billed as a tale of two coaches, with Ruben Amorim following a similar path to Mikel Arteta in his daunting task of trying to replicate the Spaniard's success in rebuilding Arsenal by making Manchester United into the force they once were. And after an enthralling 120 minutes and a penalty shootout, it was the United boss who came out on top.
Not only are the Red Devils into the next round of the FA Cup they won last year, they have shown in the last week that, despite their many problems, they can mix it with the very best sides. They pulled off an impressive 2-2 draw at runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool seven days ago and really should have nicked all three points. And now, they have gone to the second-best team in the country over the last two seasons and knocked them out of the cup despite playing more than an hour with 10 men.
Diogo Dalot must be hugely grateful to Altay Bayindir for bailing him out for his reckless tackles by making a brilliant penalty save from Martin Odegaard and ensuring the game ended 1-1 after extra-time. The goalkeeper then helped United win the shootout 5-3 by keeping out Kai Havertz's kick to cap the best performance of his overall disappointing United career, while Joshua Zirkzee also made amends for his recent abject displays in a red shirt by scoring the decisive penalty.
Havertz's woeful finishing underlined Arsenal's need to sign a striker by the end of the month, while Alejandro Garnacho made a convincing argument against United selling him in the transfer window. But the man who was left with the biggest questions to answer was Arteta as he stared at a third consecutive disappointing result after drawing with Brighton in the Premier League and losing to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup, edging his side ever closer towards a fifth-consecutive season without winning a trophy.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Emirates Stadium…
Getty Images SportWINNER: Altay Bayindir
This was the day Bayindir's decision to join Manchester United was finally vindicated. Before Sunday, he had had a miserable time since switching from Fenerbahce, playing just one game last season – at Newport County – and that was only because Andre Onana was on international duty with Cameroon. He is still yet to play a Premier League game in 18 months at the club and might have thought his season had ended with his embarrassing display at Tottenham as United exited the Carabao Cup in December.
Amorim, however, gave Bayindir a second chance by making him first choice in the FA Cup, and he was vindicated. It should be said that Bayindir got off to a rocky start in his second trip to north London of the season, misplacing three kicks in the first half and then failing to properly clear Gabriel Martinelli's cross in the build-up to Gabriel Magalhaes' equaliser. But he came into his own when United conceded the penalty, as while Odegaard's spot-kick was by no means a bad one and looked to be heading towards the bottom corner, Bayindir put his huge 1.98m-frame (8cm more than Onana) to good use, flying across the goal to turn the shot away.
The save gave rocket boosters to his confidence and he made two excellent saves from Declan Rice before again working his magic from penalties in the shootout, covering the goal superbly to frustrate Havertz. The goalkeeper also gave an exemplary post-match interview which will have only endeared him more to United fans, saying, "Even if you are not playing you have to be ready at every second if you are a Manchester United player." He sure was
AdvertisementAFPLOSER: Mikel Arteta
It feels like Arsenal's promising season has unravelled in the space of eight days. The Gunners began 2025 by beating Brentford and recording a ninth win in 11 matches, but since then they have suffered three awful results, each with huge ramifications for their trophy prospects.
First they surrendered the advantage to draw 1-1 at Brighton in the Premier League, a result which must have felt extra frustrating a day later when Liverpool failed to beat United, meaning the Gunners remained six points behind Arne Slot's side having played one game more. Arsenal, however, only had faint hopes of winning the Premier League title before the disappointing result at the Amex Stadium due to Liverpool's relentless run of results, so their best hopes of winning a trophy for the first time since 2020 lay in the domestic cups. Now, though, all hope is practically gone.
They face a mountain of a task in overturning the 2-0 deficit to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup semi-finals, and now they are out of the FA Cup in the third round for the third year out of five, while they have not gone beyond the fourth round since their 2020 triumph.
Arteta still has huge respect among Arsenal fans for the way he has transformed the club over the course of his five-year tenure, but the lack of trophies is beginning to become a problem for him, and that has only got bigger in the last week. Arsenal's best chance of silverware now looks to be in the Champions League, which they have never won and not gone beyond the quarter-finals in since 2009.
Getty Images SportWINNER: Ruben Amorim
Many were expecting Amorim to make more unwanted history for consecutive United losses as they saw trips to Liverpool and Arsenal on the fixture list after a run of four defeats in a row. Instead, the Portuguese has proven his technical nous by demonstrating a knack for getting results at the toughest places.
Just like at Anfield, Amorim was pragmatic with his approach, and although he did not stray from his beloved 3-4-3 formation, he showed tactical flexibility in a different way, setting his team up to frustrate their opponents. United gave Arsenal very few opportunities to score while both sides had 11 men on the pitch, while they posed them questions on the counter-attack and grew into the game. It was no great surprise when Bruno Fernandes gave them the lead.
What was surprising was that United did not cave in at the first sign of a setback, and Amorim's players ran their hearts out for another hour despite being a man down following Dalot's red card against one of the toughest and fittest teams in Europe.
Amorim also showed his human touch by giving Bayindir an opportunity and by not only throwing on Zirkzee, but trusting him to take the crucial fifth penalty in the shootout.
Getty Images SportLOSER: Arsenal's strikers
Long before the January transfer window opened, there was a clamour for Arsenal to sign a striker, and Sunday's events made that case even stronger – albeit for different reasons.
First, Gabriel Jesus succumbed to a worrying injury which looks as though it could end his season. The Brazilian first went down clutching his knee after being hit in the face by Lisandro Martinez, but he remained on the pitch for another 10 minutes, only to go down in pain for a second time after challenging Fernandes for the ball.
Arteta said of Jesus: "Big worry. That’s my feeling. To come off with a stretcher in a lot of pain, touching his knee. It’s not looking good. It's the other one [after the 2022 World Cup]. It’s the feeling he had, he had to come off."
Another injury was the last thing the coach needed after losing Bukayo Saka for several months to a torn hamstring and Ethan Nwaneri for several weeks due to a muscular problem. Arsenal are also missing Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu due to knee injuries, and there was fresh concern for Riccardo Calafiori when he was left out of Sunday's squad due to a muscle problem.
And even if Jesus' injury was not enough reason for Arsenal fans to demand a new striker, then the performance of Havertz certainly was. The German missed two complete sitters in the second half, first missing the target from less than 10 yards out and then spooning over from inside the six-yard box. That makes it three glaring misses for Havertz in a week after also spurning a free header against Newcastle. To make matters worse for the £60m ($73m)-man, he was the only Arsenal player to fail to score from the spot in the shootout on an afternoon to forget.