Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag has faulted the officiating at the Emirates Stadium as Manchester United lost to Arsenal 3-1 in a late capitulation.

The Red Devils started the game well and indeed took the lead through Marcus Rashford after 27 minutes, cutting into the box before curling home beyond Aaron Ramsdale.

However, the lead lasted barely a minute after a sublime team play by the Gunners, with Martin Odegaard lashing home and Gabriel Martinelli lying down just at the edge of the box.

If the start of the second half felt boring, the sign of excitement started at the hour mark when Arsenal thought they had a penalty, which the VAR canceled. The final ten minutes of the game did stir up the drama as Manchester United thought they had the potential winner after Alejandro Garnacho was let through on goal, only for the VAR to chalk off his goal in the 88th minute.

Declan Rice, in the sixth minute of stoppage time, scored at the near post thanks to a deflection before Gabriel Jesus got his first goal of the season after being freed by Fabio Viera, dribbling past the last defender and scoring past Andre Onana.

Meanwhile, Ten Hag believes his team deserved something from the game as he was happy with his team’s performance but not with the referee’s.

“I think we deserved to win this game, but you don’t always get what you deserve. I look more at how we step up, and if you see from the Wolves game to this game, there is a big progression. Tonight was a team; I am really happy with this performance and the progress of our performance. We did well, we made progress, stuck to the plan, and believed that in the future, we would win games like this. It can’t be that this goal (Arsenal’s second) is given. It was a clear foul.” Ten Hag said.

Both teams will return to action after the international break, with Manchester United hosting Brighton while Arsenal will travel to Goodison Park to face Everton.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu