When winning ugly becomes a thing of beauty

TO be brutally honest, it would have taken monumental effort NOT to beat this Manchester United team.

- ANDY DUNN

To be brutally honest, Arsenal keeper David Raya was more worried about a lightning strike than a United strike.

And to be brutally honest, it was one of Arsenal's ugliest displays of the season.

But there was serious pressure on them in a game that most saw as a formality.

To a large extent, this was not Arsenal against United, this was Arsenal against themselves, against their own insecurities, against the pressure.

And they passed the test, simple as that. It was a bit fraught, it was very workmanlike, but the win was all that mattered and it was a win that was produced by one instance of incisive play.

For any team to sustain a title challenge, every first-team squad member has to make a contribution. Yes, the marquee players need to enjoy stellar seasons and the contributions of the likes of Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Declan Rice have been first-class.