Manchester United End Arsenal's Perfect Start As Antony Scores On Premier League Debut

Arsenal's perfect start to the 2022/23 season came to an abrupt end at Old Trafford on Sunday as Antony inspired Manchester United to a 3-1 win.

United's €100 million man scored the game's opening goal 35 minutes into his debut.

Bukayo Saka equalized for Arsenal on the hour-mark but Marcus Rashford struck twice to deliver United's fourth consecutive victory.

Antony (right) netted on his debut and Marcus Rashford (left) scored twice as Manchester United beat Arsenal 3-1

IMAGO / PA Images/Martin Rickett

United started the match as slight underdogs, despite home advantage, against the Premier League leaders.

Indeed, it looked like the bookmakers may have got it right when Gabriel Martinelli put the ball in the net inside the opening quarter of an hour.

But Martinelli's celebrations were extinguished when a VAR review found that Martin Odegaard had fouled Christian Eriksen in the build-up.

It was another Brazilian that eventually broke the deadlock.

Antony became the 100th player from Brazil to feature in the EPL and he made an instant impact.

The 22-year-old from Sao Paulo finished confidently after being teed up by Rashford as United hit Arsenal with speed.

Antony celebrated with equal confidence as he ran over to where the Arsenal supporters were gathered and kissed the United badge on his new jersey.

Gunners manager Mikel Arteta was celebrating with similar vigor after Saka's equalizer.

It came after Diogo Dalot tackled Gabriel Jesus but, in doing so, pushed the ball into the path of Saka, who was presented with a simple finish.

Arsenal's tails were up but so were their defenders and United exploited that high line to retake the lead within five minutes.

Bruno Fernandes unlocked Arsenal's backline with a perfectly-weighted through pass for Rashford and the striker fired past Aaron Ramsdale via a deflection off Ben White, who had slid in to attempt a block.

Fernandes opened Arsenal up again less than 10 minutes later. This time he sent Eriksen away and the Denmark star unselfishly squared for Rashford to seal three points.

Highlights: Manchester United 3-1 Arsenal