Mikel Arteta's decision to make a triple substitution with just 15 minutes left to play at Old Trafford has come under scrutiny by pundits.
Arsenal were the better side for large periods of the game but two quickfire goals from Marcus Rashford on the counter saw the Gunners lose sight of a potential win. Gabriel Martinelli's opener was ruled out for an earlier foul from Martin Odegaard on Christian Eriksen in the build-up to the Brazilian's goal.
VAR has been heavily criticised over the weekend for a number of poor decisions, but Arsenal icon Ian Wright believes the officials made the correct call by chalking off Martinelli's goal. Bukayo Saka was able to find an equaliser in the second half, but Gary Neville believes Arteta's decision to make three substitutions at once had a negative impact on the Gunners' performance.
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Following Rashford's goal to put United 2-1 up, Arteta looked to make a tactical switch and give Arsenal a much more attacking setup. Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Fabio Vieira were all introduced in place of club captain Martin Odegaard, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Albert Sambi Lokonga.
Neville believes the decision to change from a system that had the Gunners performing better than Erik ten Hag's side in the game directly contributed to Rashford adding a third just a minute later, putting the game out of reach for the north Londoners. The former United right-back said during the game on Sky Sports: "You have to say when Mikel Arteta made those substitutes, I either thought it'd be a 5-1 or a 3-2 because it looked so bold but the space that Christian Eriksen has is absolutely incredible.
"Arsenal, did they need to go so desperate so early? It's onside. Eriksen's onside, Rashford's onside. There's bold but I have to say, this could be four or 5-1 or it could just be a mess for United the other way and Arsenal could score two or three. It looks like it's going to be the former."
"The three substitutions at once, I thought it was strange, because it was a bit of kitchen-sink job which you can get done on the counter-attack - which they did," Neville added after the match. "I don't think they needed to do that in the game, there was still 20 minutes in the game, they were still working chances, Manchester United's goal on the counter was against the run of play then all of a sudden the game became easier for Manchester United than Arsenal with those subs."
The Sky Sports commentator wasn't alone in his assessment of Arteta's tactical change, with former Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson agreeing with the ex-United star and claiming the Spaniard made a 'knee jerk reaction'. Merson said: "They were dominant for that 15 minutes, it was one way traffic, they were going through them like a knife through butter. For me, it was a knee-jerk reaction with 20 minutes to go."
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