United boss finds silver lining in Arsenal defeat
The outcome was expected but Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag saw positives from their home loss against Arsenal.
The Gunners played conservatively as they tried to secure all three points to keep the pressure on Manchester City, who still have a game in hand to officially determine their title retainership.
United, meanwhile, were in danger of missing out on the European spots available to Premier League teams thanks to Chelsea's resurgence in the last few weeks. The Red Devils needed to win to remain in contention for the UEFA Europa Conference League at least but now, it looks like the Blues have snatched that spot from them.
Despite the setback, Erik ten Hag believes that his team put up a good fight against Arsenal and is refusing to rule out their season until the final whistle next weekend.
United went into the game with some injuries and still managed to keep Arsenal at bay to a large extent, but failed themselves to make anything of their attack for the second straight game in a row.
Speaking after the match, ten Hag said: “We were very competitive. And you see, even when we miss six, or seven [of our] potential starting XI, maybe even more, we can bring performance and we can bring a level. And on Monday night [at Crystal Palace], that was a very bad day at the office, I would say from all the players, very poor and isn't acceptable.
“But today we have shown when we have that good spirit that we can bring a performance.
“Mostly this team has always the right spirit and they always execute the rules and the principles from the game, how we want them to play and even if they have to adapt to different positions, where we are now with all the injuries. And so yeah, I can only be happy.
And I think it’s a compliment for this team that the ones who played, they executed with all that they could and they were competitive and they were fighting. And then you see you can get a result.”
The Dutchman also claimed that Arsenal's goal was a mistake and that his team were unlucky not to have secured a point at least.
“Yeah. It was a bad moment our side and it shouldn't happened, but that is top football. It’s a detail and in that detail we were wrong and we have to take that. But, of course, it's very hard in this moment.”