Manchester United suffered a 0-1 defeat to Arsenal at Old Trafford in the Premier League opening encounter.

The starting XI named by manager Ruben Amorim raised many eyebrows. Rasmus Hojlund and Andre Onana were not part of the squad, with the former now likely to be pushed out of the club.

With the majority owner Avram Glazer and Omar Berrada watching on, Riccardo Calafiori headed his side in front from a corner set-piece.

The hosts dominated ball possession and were clearly the better side for the large part of the game.

Arsenal did well to run down the clock during throw-ins and substitutions to slow down the game. Mikel Arteta will be lucky to win the Premier League if he believes his side deserved a victory today.

Despite a poor result, United fans must look at the positives and continue to back their team.

Player Ratings

Altay Bayindir – 2/10

New season, same problems.

United had all the momentum before Bayindir made yet another appalling error from a corner set-piece.

Leny Yoro – 5/10

The 19-year-old looked reserved with his passing when compared to his showings in pre-season.

Matthijs de Ligt – 7/10

He drew a huge cheer when he bulldozed Saka off the ball with ease. De Ligt was assured throughout 90 minutes and made a solid block to deny Saka from close range in the injury time.

Luke Shaw – 6/10

The most experienced United ace was aggressive with his tackles, a characteristic usually not associated with him.

Patrick Dorgu – 7/10

Dorgu looked fantastic in the left wing-back spot and his superb driving shot almost brought United to parity. He floated a dangerous cross in the second half to Mbeumo, which would have earned him an assist on another day.

Diogo Dalot – 5/10

The Portuguese full-back played second fiddle on the right flank to Mbeumo and did not offer much attacking threat.

Casemiro – 5/10

Casemiro played a string of fine through balls to Mbeumo but clearly lacked the legs to dictate the centre of the park.

Bruno Fernandes – 5/10

The club captain still needs to work on his positional discipline when in the midfield pivot. He often left Casemiro to cover large areas of the ground. It was a surprise to see him making minimal influence today.

Matheus Cunha – 7/10

Cunha made a blistering run, beating five Arsenal players but could not find enough power to beat Raya. He made another powerful run after leaving his man on the floor courtesy of a graceful flick.

Bryan Mbeumo – 7/10

The new summer signing started brightly and did not shy away from taking on the defenders. He even came close to scoring through an acrobatic effort.

Mason Mount – 6/10

Starting in a false nine role, Mount linked up nicely with his fellow attackers but did not pose a true striker’s threat inside the box.

Substitutions

Amad Diallo – 7/10

Diallo played in his trademark style, where he left his markers behind through his trickery. He should have started the game.

Benjamin Sesko – 5/10

Sesko made his debut for United but will need a few more training sessions to get up to speed with the team.

Manuel Ugarte – 4/10

The former PSG man lost his bearings when he passed the ball back to Kai Havertz in a dangerous area. He had the option to recycle possession and keep the pressure on Arsenal, but instead wildly blazed his shot.

Harry Maguire – 6/10

His first contribution was to cover for Ugarte’s poor mistake.

Article written by Sanidhya Bhardwaj .