EPL News: Arshavin and Szczesny brand United’s win as lucky
Manchester United and Arsenal played out an interesting 1-0 win for the Red Devils in their latest English Premier League encounter. However, in the aftermath of the match that took place at Old Trafford, Arsenal’s stars have come out and said that their
opponent’s one goal win was just a lucky fluke. Gunners surrendered their spot at the summit of the English league table with the loss to Manchester United as Sir Alex Fergusons’s team went top of the table above the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham
Hotspurs and Arsenal.
Speaking to his club’s official website, Andrei Arshavin was defensive in his remarks as he tried to justify the result. He stated, "We didn't deserve defeat, the match was a battle. Both teams fought for the result and unfortunately we lost. I think Manchester
United had more luck than us during the game, but we were not able to create anything special near their goal.”
He added, "We didn't play for a draw, we simply acted responsibly in defense and looked for our chances to attack. If it wasn't for a fortunate bounce at the end of the first half, we would have gone in at 0-0 and the second half would have been easier."
The Russian international has come under criticism recently from Arsenal fans due to his below par performances, this was quite evident against Manchester United where Arsenal had a lot of possession in the second half but they failed to come up with the telling
final pass to breakdown the resolute Manchester United defense.
Arshavin went onto say, "There is no time to be melancholy or sad, we need to forget this defeat and start thinking about the next match. We need to prepare properly for each opponent. The championship is very interesting this year and nothing has been lost
yet." Arsenal are now two points behind a rampant Manchester United side, a team which has not lost a single game thus far in the 2010-2011 Premier League season.
The only bright spot to emerge from the defeat against Manchester United for Arsenal was their young goalkeeper Szczesny and his composure in goal for the Gunners. The 20-year-old goalie spoke to the media following his team’s 1-0 defeat and he echoed his
team mate’s feelings as he also termed United’s goal as a “lucky” one.
The Polish international footballer said, "I am a reserve goalkeeper at the moment so I need to take every chance I get and this was a massive chance for me. I felt that for my debut I did well enough. Unfortunately it wasn't enough for us to get any points
but this is my big chance and I need to take it."
Szczesny further added, "It was a disappointing result, but we won't get too down. We are still very confident. We believe if we recover on Saturday and put in the right performance against Stoke we could easily get three points and be back in the title
race straight away. That is what the manager told us afterwards; he just tried to get us to focus on the match on Saturday. This game is gone. The team performance was quite good, but we just didn't get as much luck as United."
Speaking about United’s goal which came through a Park Ji Sung header, Szczesny added, "Their goal was really luck. I don't think Park meant to head the ball; it just hit him and went in the top corner. However, we are still confident we are the top side
in the Premier League. Manchester United are beatable. Everyone is. The Premier League is very tight this year. They do have a solid back four, I will admit that, but they are beatable."
Now with the upcoming Manchester United and Chelsea match on this weekend, many consider that this match might be the League title decider or at least prove which is more dominant from the two.
The Sunday fixture will be played at Stamford Bridge so the Blues will have the edge in that aspect however their players are returning back from injuries so might be struggling from full form. Manchester United however have a full bench but their two striker
Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney have to show form in netting the ball.
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