SETTABLOID

Arsenal bowed out of the FA Cup in the third round for the second season running.

The Gunners went into the game in inconsistent form, having failed to win their previous two outings against Newcastle United and Brighton & Hove Albion.

They had a mixed opening half against United, where they did not provide any significant attacking threat.

United pounced on a defensive mistake to score in the 52nd minute, but the Gunners got a huge advantage soon after with Diogo Dalot’s sending-off.

Gabriel Magalhaes made amends for his defensive error with the equaliser, but Arsenal failed to find the winner. Martin Odegaard missed a glorious chance from the penalty spot.

Declan Rice was twice denied by exceptional saves from Altay Bayindir. Kai Havertz had a day to forget. He missed two big chances before squandering a penalty in the shoot-out.

Havertz was undoubtedly the worst player on the pitch, but we were also disappointed with the performance of midfielder Mikel Merino before his 73rd-minute substitution.

The Spaniard started alongside Jorginho and Martin Odegaard in the centre of the park, but he had a poor outing with just 30 touches and 14 passes completed.

Merino lost 50 percent of his duels (5/10) and squandered possession on nine occasions.

The former Real Sociedad man received a 5/10 performance rating from football.london.

It was unsurprising that Rice replaced him. The Englishman had a greater influence in the game and could have scored if not for Bayindir’s heroics in the United goal.

Arsenal are facing another season under Mikel Arteta without silverware after the Gunners crashed out of the FA Cup against holders Manchester United on Sunday.

After the two sides played out a 1-1 draw in normal time and extra-time, United came out on top thanks to a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win. Kai Havertz missed the decisive spot-kick for Mikel Arteta’s men to knock the North Londoners out.

Following last week’s EFL Cup semi-final first leg defeat to Newcastle, defeat in the North London derby against Tottenham and a tough clash with Aston Villa at the weekend could see Arsenal’s season blow up within a matter of weeks.

Arteta’s men take on Spurs on Wednesday night before welcoming Unai Emery back to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening. After suffering with a number of injuries before the cup defeat, Arsenal are set to be without more players for the double-header.

Gabriel Jesus

Injury: Potentially a knee problem.

Jesus was forced off in the first-half against United after appearing to hurt his knee on two occasions. He was replaced by Raheem Sterling and looked in considerable pain as he left the field.

What Mikel Arteta has said: “Big worry, that’s my feeling. He had to come off on a stretcher with a lot of pain, touching his knee. It’s not looking good.”

Riccardo Calariori

Injury: Muscular.

Calafiori missed the visit of United altogether with a muscular issue after being an unused substitute in the defeat to Newcastle in midweek. He has now missed 13 games through injury this season.

What Mikel Arteta has said: N/A.

Possible return date: Unknown.

Bukayo Saka

Injury: Hamstring.

Saka suffered the injury during the win over Crystal Palace. He has since undergone surgery and confirmed that he has begun recovery.

What Arteta has said: “It’s not looking good. He’s going to be out for many weeks. Many [weeks]. I cannot be too specific because I don’t know but it will be many weeks.”

Potential return date: Unknown.

Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has opened up about what went wrong during the Gunners’ FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on Sunday at the Emirates Stadium. Speaking after the match, the Norwegian skipper expressed his disappointment, labelling the result “tough to take.”

Despite Arsenal dominating the match and drawing level after United were reduced to 10 men, Odegaard’s penalty miss proved pivotal. The midfielder had the chance to put Arsenal ahead but saw his effort saved by Altay Bayindir. Although Odegaard converted his penalty in the subsequent shootout, a missed effort from Kai Havertz ultimately sealed Arsenal’s exit from the competition.

“It’s a really tough one,” Odegaard admitted. “Really frustrating. I think we completely dominated the game from the first half until the end. We could have been a bit sharper in front of goal, in the last pass, the last shot. To lose that game at home when we dominated everything, it’s a tough one.”

Arsenal’s performance on paper reflected their dominance. The Gunners registered 26 shots compared to United’s seven and had seven on target. However, for the second time in a week, their inability to convert opportunities into goals cost them dearly.

Arsenal were denied a dream start in the FA Cup third round clash with Manchester United when Gabriel Martinelli’s opener was disallowed.

The Gunners started fast out of the tracks against their Premier League rivals and were the better side in the opening stages of the contest. After 20 minutes, Mikel Arteta’s men had come close on a number of occasions with Kai Havertz testing Altay Bayindir.

Martinelli thought he had opened the scoring in the 19th minute when he calmly slotted the ball past Bayindir. However, after running away in celebration, the Brazilian’s joy was replaced by frustration when the assistant referee raised his flag.

Following good play between Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus, the latter’s ball in-between United’s defence made its way to Martinelli. The winger raced away and put the home side ahead, but it was disallowed after a small delay.

Arteta was visibly frustrated on the touchline, questioning the decision to the fourth official. Replays showed that Martinelli was in an obvious offside position but Arsenal’s frustration came about because Jesus’ pass struck Harry Maguire before finding Martinelli.

Despite the ball hitting the United defender on its way through to Martinelli, rules state that Jesus’ intention to play the Brazilian through means Maguire’s touch doesn’t change the assistant referee’s offside decision and doesn’t ignore the fact that Martinelli was in an offside position.

Arsenal haven’t made a move to sign a striker almost halfway through the January transfer window, yet there is Benjamin Sesko proving he is still capable of the extraordinary.

Mikel Arteta’s side were knocked out of the FA Cup at the third round stage for the second season running. Manchester United inflicted the heartbreak this time via a penalty shoot-out.

And it was common themes that were evident throughout for Arsenal. Numerous glorious chances failed to be put away by Kai Havertz, while it was he in the shoot-out and Martin Odegaard in regulation time who missed from the spot.

The Gunners are still without an out-and-out striker, even though they have been linked with numerous names over the past years of challenging for the title.

All it takes is a look to Germany to see what they could have had.

Today, old target Sesko fired in a thunderbolt during Leipzig’s 4-2 Bundesliga win vs Werder Bremen.

Running onto the loose ball, the 21-year-old began to dribble through opponents’ half.

He took two touches forward then another to bring the ball into position so that he could used the inside of his right boot to hit a strike so perfectly it arrowed directly into the top-right corner.

Mikel Arteta has provided an update on Gabriel Jesus after the Arsenal striker was stretchered off during the Gunners’ FA Cup clash against Manchester United.

The Brazilian appeared to injure his knee in the first half at Emirates Stadium on Sunday and was forced off with 39 minutes played. He was replaced by Raheem Sterling and looked in considerable pain as he left the field.

The Gunners went on to draw the match 1-1 which forced the game to a penalty shootout. Kai Havertz was the only player to miss his spot kick and Ruben Amorim’s side celebrated heavily after the match.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Arteta confirmed Jesus went home and not to the hospital. He said: “Big worry, that’s my feeling. He had to come off on a stretcher with a lot of pain, touching his knee. It’s not looking good.”

Asked if it’s the same knee as his previous injury, the Spaniard said: “No, I think it’s the other one. The worrying factor is the feeling that he had. When he had to come off and the pain that he was in.”

On the result, Arteta added: “Incredible how you don’t win that game, that’s basically to sum up. The dominance, the superiority in relation to the opposition and everything that we did to try to win the game and that’s it we didn’t get what we deserved clearly. But there is an element that is about putting the ball in the back of the net that we did once and the amount of situations chances, penalties that we had we didn’t.