Manchester United secured their place in the UEFA Europa League knockout rounds with a dominant 3-0 home victory over Sheriff Tiraspol.
Diogo Dalot rose above the visitors’ defense to head home from a corner in the dying minutes of the half to give United a deserved lead.
Marcus Rashford nodded home a Luke Shaw cross from close range to cap off a superb team move.
Ronaldo collected his own rebounded shot and tapped home from point-blank range for United’s third in the dying minutes of the game.
The Red Devils can still finish top of Group E, but they will need to win away to Real Sociedad by two goals or more to leapfrog their Spanish counterparts in the standings.
Meanwhile, PSV Eindhoven handed Arsenal their first UEFA Europa League defeat of the season, denying the Gunners the chance to seal the top spot in Group A, at least for the time being.
PSV thought they had taken the lead within 20 minutes, but Cody Gakpo was caught offside before dinking over Aaron Ramsdale. Despite long spells of possession, Arsenal were finding chances hard to come by in a fairly evenly-matched contest.
Xavi Simons had been posing problems for the visitors and looked to have scored the opener on the stroke of halftime, but the offside flag was up again.
After regaining possession from an Arsenal throw-in, PSV worked the ball to de Jong, who shrugged off Rob Holding and laid off Joey Veerman to make it 1-0.
Just minutes later, the hosts had another when Ramsdale flapped at a corner, allowing de Jong to nod into an exposed net.
PSV had the ball in the back of the net for the fifth time, but yet again, the offside flag came to Arsenal’s rescue, denying Gakpo a second time.
De Jong’s introduction changed the game, and the Dutchman came close with two more headers as the game drew to a close. The visitors’ best chance of the half once again fell to Nketiah, but he was unable to score.
Victory seals PSV’s progression in the UEL, with the chance to potentially leapfrog Arsenal still possible on matchday six.
Arsenal will welcome Swiss side FC Zurich to Emirates Stadium on the final matchday and will need to better PSV’s result against Bodo in Norway.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
Manchester United secured their place in the UEFA Europa League knockout rounds with a dominant 3-0 home victory over Sheriff Tiraspol.
Diogo Dalot rose above the visitors’ defense to head home from a corner in the dying minutes of the half to give United a deserved lead.
Marcus Rashford nodded home a Luke Shaw cross from close range to cap off a superb team move.
Ronaldo collected his own rebounded shot and tapped home from point-blank range for United’s third in the dying minutes of the game.
The Red Devils can still finish top of Group E, but they will need to win away to Real Sociedad by two goals or more to leapfrog their Spanish counterparts in the standings.
Meanwhile, PSV Eindhoven handed Arsenal their first UEFA Europa League defeat of the season, denying the Gunners the chance to seal the top spot in Group A, at least for the time being.
PSV thought they had taken the lead within 20 minutes, but Cody Gakpo was caught offside before dinking over Aaron Ramsdale. Despite long spells of possession, Arsenal were finding chances hard to come by in a fairly evenly-matched contest.
Xavi Simons had been posing problems for the visitors and looked to have scored the opener on the stroke of halftime, but the offside flag was up again.
After regaining possession from an Arsenal throw-in, PSV worked the ball to de Jong, who shrugged off Rob Holding and laid off Joey Veerman to make it 1-0.
Just minutes later, the hosts had another when Ramsdale flapped at a corner, allowing de Jong to nod into an exposed net.
PSV had the ball in the back of the net for the fifth time, but yet again, the offside flag came to Arsenal’s rescue, denying Gakpo a second time.
De Jong’s introduction changed the game, and the Dutchman came close with two more headers as the game drew to a close. The visitors’ best chance of the half once again fell to Nketiah, but he was unable to score.
Victory seals PSV’s progression in the UEL, with the chance to potentially leapfrog Arsenal still possible on matchday six.
Arsenal will welcome Swiss side FC Zurich to Emirates Stadium on the final matchday and will need to better PSV’s result against Bodo in Norway.
Daniel Ademiju Idowu
