Arsenal 2-0 Man United: Gunners score TWICE from second-half corners to hand Ruben Amorim his first defeat as Red Devils boss

Since his arrival in Manchester last month, the new Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has been greeted with the kind of uncritical fervour usually reserved for prophets and demagogues.

Amorim, it is fair to say, has made a good first impression. Television interviews have gone so well that bluebirds have been spotted fluttering overhead, spewing heart emojis. It is amazing what a 1-1 draw away at Ipswich Town can do for a boss.

In mitigation, it is clear even from a passing acquaintance with Amorim that he is a person of considerable charisma and charm and that he cuts a warmer, more sympathetic figure than the austere persona of Erik ten Hag.

Amorim is an easy man to like. That much is true. He also has the wit to know that the garlands being hung around his neck are both normal and premature at the same time. ‘People always believe the next guy is the right guy,’ he told the BBC.

Wins against Bodo/Glimt and Everton have burnished his start even if no one would pretend that either side was the most challenging opposition. Again, Amorim had the sense to preach caution. ‘A storm will come,’ he said.

And then came the visit to The Emirates to face Arsenal. By late in the second half, Arsenal were cruising to a comfortable 2-0 victory and the rain had begun to fall heavily. It wasn’t quite the storm that Amorim had predicted but it was at least a first break in the sunshine.

Charisma and charm will get you so far but, as Amorim knows, they will not get a team with United’s glaring issues beyond an accomplished side like Arsenal who have got over a blip caused by an injury to Martin Odegaard and are racing back into the title race again.

Mikel Arteta’s side are now just seven points behind leaders Liverpool, who could only draw with Newcastle in the north-east. Arsenal were not at their best on Wednesday night but they did not have to be. United were improved from the Ten Hag days but there is a lot, lot further to go before they can think about titles again.

They competed well for 45 minutes but like many of Arsenal’s opponents before them, they could not cope with the bombardment of deadly accurate corners fired in by Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka. Arsenal scored twice from them. United’s defence looked increasingly ragged.

By the end of the game which left United in 11th, with Arsenal coasting to victory and United well beaten, Amorim sat on the bench, his head in his hands as he contemplated his first defeat in the Premier League. He already knew the extent of the job he faced resurrecting the giant of the English game but this was first-hand evidence.

It was Arsenal’s 500th game at The Emirates since their move from Highbury and this season may represent their best chance of winning the title since that ground move. Optimism is still fragile and it was not helped by the absence of centre half Gabriel through injury. Jakub Kiwior deputised.

Amorim was without centre half Lisandro Martinez through suspension but he did name Noussair Mazraoui in his back three even as Mazraoui remained at the centre of a debate about his refusal to wear a rainbow-themed warm-up jacket at the weekend.

It is thought that Mazraoui, a Muslim, cited religious beliefs as the reason for his reluctance to wear the jacket as a sign of support for the LGBTQ+ community and the club appears to have decided the gesture should be a matter of individual choice.

It is also worth remembering that the FA lost any moral authority they might ever have had over the issue when they abandoned plans for skipper Harry Kane to wear a rainbow armband at the 2022 World Cup because they feared Kane would be booked if he did so. They should have abandoned gesture politics then.

Both sides started well but Arsenal were soon berating themselves for not seizing an early chance to take the lead. Rice swung in a corner from the United right and it was allowed to reach Thomas Partey three yards out. Partey only had to make clean contact to score but his attempted header bounced off his shoulder and thudded wide.

Much of the rest of the half, though, was hidebound by caution. The match became like a chess game, cerebral and tactical, both teams searching for a weakness or a lapse in concentration. None came.

Gabriel Martinelli swept a shot wide from six yards out after another of Saka’s pinpoint corners caused problems in the United box. Mostly, though, the abundance of patience exercised by both sides became mildly soporific, save when the silence was perforated by howls of impatience from the home supporters.

That lasted until three minutes before half time when United nearly conjured an opening goal in faintly bizarre circumstances. Mason Mount hit a shot from 25 yards out that went so far wide the Arsenal defence ignored it.

Harry Maguire retrieved it before it went into touch and pulled it back into the path of Diogo Dalot and Dalot’s cross-shot beat David Raya but whistled just wide of Arsenal’s far post.

The second half began with a burst of excitement when Martinelli escaped down the left and ran at the retreating United defence before his shot deflected off a defender and bounced tamely into the hands of Andre Onana.

The tempo improved. Rice shot just wide soon after and eight minutes into the half, Arsenal took the lead. Rice curled another fine, troublesome, challenging corner to the near post and Jurrien Timber rose to meet it in a crowd and glanced his header past Onana from close range.

Amorim sat down on the bench straight away and began imparting instructions to Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee as he prepared to send them on. Rashford bent down to listen to his instructions, nodding earnestly. Amorim sent them both on and introduced Leny Yoro, too.

Zirkzee’s first contribution was inadvertently to flick on another Rice corner at the near post. It was heading for the far corner until Manuel Ugarte twisted his body and headed the ball off the line.

Amorim’s changes did begin to make a difference in other ways, too, though. United’s play improved and midway through the half it took a brilliant, one-handed flying save from Raya to deny Matthijs de Ligt when his header from a Bruno Fernandes free kick was bound for the top corner.

But 18 minutes from the end, Arsenal doubled their advantage. Again, the goal came from a set-piece. This time, it was created by the wand of a left foot of Saka. He curled a corner to the back post where it was headed across goal by Partey and ricocheted off the thigh of William Saliba and across the line.

United looked as if they were about to crumble. Arsenal cut loose. Odegaard played in Kai Havertz who should have scored but hit his shot too close to Onana. Substitute Mikel Merino headed just wide from another corner.

United tried to force their way back into the game but it was beyond them.