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Manchester United suffered a demoralizing 3-1 defeat at the hands of rivals Arsenal on Saturday in the Premier League, as stand-in captain Bruno Fernandes missed an important penalty. Ralf Rangnick opted to drop Harry Maguire to the bench for the trip to the Emirates and handed the armband to Fernandes.
However, the Portuguese midfielder struggled and ended up doing more harm than good for the visitors. Manchester United went behind as early as the third minute when Nuno Tavares opened the scoring for the hosts. The left-back tapped in from close range after an attempt from Bukayo Saka was palmed into his path by David de Gea.
Shortly thereafter, Fernandes endured the first of three forgetful moments for him during the game. Aaron Ramsdale gave the ball away with a weak pass and Manchester United had the perfect opportunity to punish the error. However, Fernandes failed to pull the trigger quickly enough as Gabriel Magalhaes blocked his attempt.
Arsenal breathed a heavy sigh of relief as Fernandes had his hands on his head. Mikel Arteta's men doubled their advantage in the 32nd minute from the spot. Eddie Nketiah found the back of the net, but the goal was eventually ruled out for offside. Despite that, VAR adjudged Alex Telles to have fouled Saka in the build-up and Arsenal were handed a spot-kick.
Saka stepped up to convert with ease and sent the home crowd into a delirium.
Cristiano Ronaldo strikes back for Manchester United, but Arsenal settle the affair after the interval
Manchester United produced a quick-fire response after being 2-0 down. Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 100th Premier League goal after getting on the end of a cross from Nemanja Matic. The strike meant the Red Devils trailed Arsenal by just one goal at half-time.
Arsenal then conceded a penalty in the 57th minute after Tavares handled the ball inside the box. Surprisingly, Fernandes stepped up to take the spot-kick instead of Cristiano Ronaldo himself.
Manchester United's stand-in captain hit his penalty straight into the post and it stayed out, rubbing salt into his wounds. Granit Xhaka settled the clash in the 70th minute with a brilliant goal from distance that left De Gea with no chance. Fernandes could consider himself lucky for not being sent off for a rash challenge on Tavares before he was eventually substituted in the 84th minute.
The result helped the Gunners leapfrog Tottenham Hotspur into fourth-place in the Premier League, although Spurs have a game in hand. Manchester United are currently sixth and could drop to seventh if West Ham United beat Chelsea on Sunday (24 April).
On that note, here are some of the best tweets from the game:
