Arsenal claimed a narrow 1-0 victory away to Manchester United on the opening weekend of the Premier League season but the hosts’ manager and captain weren’t happy
Ruben Amorim insists Arsenal’s winner should have been disallowed for a foul on error-prone keeper Altay Bayındır. Manchester United keeper Bayındır got involved in a penalty box tussle and his weak punch allowed Riccardo Calafiori to score the all-important winner.
United boss Amorim said: “I understand we want goals, but when you touch the goalkeeper that way, I think it’s hard. Especially to lose with a goal like this, I think it’s hard. It was a strange goal.
“When you touch the goalkeeper, he needs to use his hands to catch the ball, not push players. He chooses to push players and let the ball pass. But again, it’s the rules. If it’s allowed, we need to do the same thing.”
Amorim then backed his error-prone keeper – who started with Andre Onana left out of the squad completely – with TV pundit Roy Keane calling Bayındır “weak and soft.” Amorim said: “I watch training and I watch games. Tom Heaton and Altay Bayindir did a great job. Andre is going to fight with the other guys.”
United captain Bruno Fernandes added: “Altay was saying in the moment he goes to push the ball, he gets a touch. But we know in the Premier League they don’t give much in these type of situations, even if they had a meeting with us saying that if the players are blocking and not looking at the ball, they will whistle more.”
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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta praised his players for their hard-fought win even thought new £64m striker Viktor Gyokores drew a blank on his debut and was substituted.
Arteta said: “A big, big result coming into the first game of the season against Old Trafford. I think we did two things very well. One, to take the set-piece and then react to especially mistakes. Some of them are necessary, some of them unusual.
“But the way every single player reacted to that gives us the opportunity to win the game. If not, it’s impossible. And that’s about how we compete and how much we want to take it.
“Viktor did a lot of things very good. But coming away to Manchester United, winning your first game with Arsenal, it’s a good start.”
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Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
