Rio Ferdinand praises Arsenal’s newfound resilience

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The former Manchester United defender was impressed with the Gunners’ late fightback during Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has told the Evening Standard that he has been impressed by the stronger mentality that Arsenal have displayed this season, after the Gunners battled back from behind to claim a dramatic late point at Old Trafford on Saturday despite being outplayed for large periods of the game.

A major criticism of the Gunners in recent years has been their conspicuously weak underbelly and propensity to throw in the towel when the going gets tough, particularly when competing against top opposition.

However, this season Arsene Wenger’s new-look side appear to finally possess the necessary grit and resilience required to grind out results when their backs are on the ropes, as evidenced by their ugly yet vital draws at Manchester United and Paris Saint Germain this season.

Arsenal were second best for an overwhelming majority of Saturday’s heavyweight grudge match against Jose Mourinho’s Red Devils, and in years gone by it is conceivable that Wenger’s side would have crumbled and allowed the floodgates to open after falling behind to Juan Mata’s 68th minute strike, as they did during last season’s humbling 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford.

However, this Gunners side are made of sterner stuff, and they dug in their heels to survive an unrelenting Man United onslaught before substitute Olivier Giroud rose highest at the back post to head home a wonderful 87th minute equaliser, ensuring that the spoils were shared in spite of United’s dominance.

Ex-England international Ferdinand believes that Arsenal’s newfound ability to pick up results even when they are not at their imperious best means that they now carry a much more potent threat in both the league and Europe, with the former Leeds United defender also praising the North Londoners’ strength in depth:

“Encouragingly, there does seem to be a lot more resilience about Arsenal this season.” Ferdinand told the Evening Standard.

“It is a trait I first saw away at PSG. They were totally outplayed and yet came away with a point. The 1-1 draw at Manchester United on Saturday was a similar story.

“This is not something I have associated with Arsenal for a while. Usually, once they fell behind, especially against the better sides, they’d fold. But this is perhaps a sign of a stronger mentality building at Emirates Stadium.

“We are starting to see that Arsenal do have a strong squad, with good options on the bench. I have said before that Olivier Giroud is a great Plan B and he showed that again with the equaliser at Old Trafford.

“But the man who provided the assist was also a substitute in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain — another quality player.”

Victory for Arsenal in Wednesday night’s Champions League clash with Ligue 1 giants PSG would ensure that Wenger’s side secure top spot in Group A after four successive seasons of finishing as group runners up, potentially handing them a more favourable route into the latter stages of the competition.