Manchester United showed passion for Arsenal win, says Mata

Both their goals owed as much to poor United defending rather than incisive Arsenal attacking, and the visitors created scant opportunities on an afternoon when their own defending was amateurish.

“The player who was surprising for me talent-wise was Rashford because of the timing of his movement and his intelligence”, the Frenchman said. “But he has already shown improvement and that is special”. If I was an Arsenal supporter I would be so angry right now.

“It’s just insane. This is my first game in the Premier League so obviously it’s been incredible, and to score two has been a bonus”.

The 18-year-old locally-born striker struck twice in three minutes in the first half to undermine third-placed Arsenal’s title challenge.

“Normally the first matches a debutant plays are good, but it is the consistency – he has to show it in the third, fourth, fifth match”.

Henry, a member of great Arsenal teams past, insists such a performance against the current Manchester United team would not have been served up by his group. Xavi, fantastic against I think Valladolid [for Barcelona] and also Thomas Muller a fantastic debut. Now it is insane with the injuries we have. Here we will rate the performances of the United players. Now, it is a little bit overdone, I think. I have a lot of experience with that. That is a very important aspect of my philosophy.

Arsenal, needing a win to keep pace with local rivals Tottenham as challengers to Leicester, were given some hope before half-time when Welbeck – who once played for the same Manchester boys club that produced Rashford – glanced in Ozil’s free-kick.

“That is why we have a small selection because then you can give youngsters a chance”. When they scored, it was from errors by ourselves. You could see it was a happy scene for the fans.

Gunners boss Wenger declared after the game that he couldn’t fault his side’s commitment at Old Trafford, stating: “Our spirit and commitment was 100 per cent there but it’s hard to win away from home when you concede three goals”. The likes of Wes Brown, Danny Welbeck and Ravel Morrison all represented the team in their junior years, while current United team-mates Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Tyler Blackett were also ex-Fletcher Moss players.

Three minutes later, Rashford was celebrating again after heading home a clipped right-wing cross from Jesse Lingard from just outside the six-yard box. “We were very tight on their midfielders”.

Arsenal have been criticised for failing to take advantage of Manchester United as the race for the title heats up in England.