Arsenal legend Martin Keown wrote in his column on The Daily Mail about his former side’s ‘dominant midfield two’ at Old Trafford.
Mikel Arteta’s men faced Manchester United after back-to-back defeats in the Premier League. The Gunners’ record against the top-six away from home has been dreadful recently, but that didn’t seem to have any effect at all yesterday.
Arsenal started the game brilliantly and dominated Manchester United in the first half. A brilliant penalty from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the second half gave them the lead, and that was enough to end their winless streak away from home against the big sides.
Aubameyang, when he scores, usually makes the headlines, but Arsenal had others to thank after the win. Gabriel Magalhaes was solid throughout and deserves a ton of credit for settling in the way he has.
The best performances at Old Trafford, however, came from Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny. The midfield duo barely put a foot wrong in the entire game and, without them, Arsenal would have struggled like they have before.
Keown hails Partey and Elneny
Keown was full of praise for Arteta’s duo in the middle of the park. Partey’s quality in the midfield was expected, but Keown believes that Elneny matched the Ghanaian with his performance against the Red Devils.
He wrote: “Arsenal had not won at Old Trafford since 2006. They had not beaten a ‘Big-Six’ side away from home since 2015. But Mikel Arteta broke both of those hoodoos on Sunday thanks to his dominant midfield two.
“I was blessed to play behind some outstanding pairings in an Arsenal shirt, including Patrick Vieira and Emmanuel Petit and Vieira and Gilberto Silva. It’s an incredibly important job to act as that screen in front of the defence and Mohamed Elneny and Thomas Partey were solid here.
“There has been a lot of attention on Partey as the summer signing. But Elneny is matching his new team-mate’s quality in midfield.”
Elneny was expected by many to be sold in the summer after he returned from his loan spell in Turkey. However, Arteta has seen something in him, and the Egyptian is performing brilliantly whenever he has been given a start.
Arsenal won the FA Cup last season and one of the biggest reasons why they did was their midfield duo. Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos were incredible under Arteta, but both of them were left on the bench at Old Trafford.
Partey and Elneny complimented each other brilliantly against Manchester United. Both players balanced their attacking and defensive responsibilities without any problems, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them keep their place in the Premier League XI for a considerable period.
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