Izuchukwu Okosi
Eddie Nketiah scored a late winner Sunday evening as Arsenal beat Manchester United in a five-goal thriller to keep their Premier League title aspirations alive.
The north London side now has 50 points from 19 matches, the highest in their Premier League history, five points more than the Invisibles achieved in the 2003/2004 season, the last time the club won the title.
The England striker of Ghanaian heritage had cancelled a Marcus Rashford goal after eight minutes and it ended 1-1 at half time.
In the 53rd minute, Anglo-Nigerian superstar, Bukayo Saka, produced a top-drawer finish to put Arsenal ahead but quite remarkably, United Redford restored parity just after eight minutes again with a stooping header.
Nketiah however grabbed a late goal for the Gunners late on when he steered home the ball a wayward Martin Odegaard shot.
“You can see how much it means to everyone. They’re the only team that has beaten us this season so we really wanted to beat them for the fans,” Saka told Sky Sports.
“It wasn’t easy and it definitely wasn’t our best start to the game but we showed a lot of character to come back and get the win.”
Arsenal has made their best ever start to a Premier League season and Saka added: “That’s really significant. It’s something we can be proud of but we have to stay humble. It’s only halfway through the season and things can change very quickly.
“But if we keep playing like we have then we’ll be in a good place at the end of the season, we just have to keep it up.”
Arsenal will next weekend face Manchester City in the FA Cup fourth round, then return to Premier League duties in the following week to play against Everton.
A week later, the Gunners will then play against second-placed Manchester City in a rescheduled league fixture on February 15.
The defending champions will also have a date with Mikel Arteta’s side in April.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
