Louis van Gaal's Case For The Defence

Perhaps predictably, Louis van Gaal delivered the best line of the day as he reflected on how his side survived an early storm to beat Arsenal 2-1.

But there was nothing expected about the way his Manchester United side claimed their first away win of the season.

"If Arsenal had scored in the first 20 minutes then it is a different game," said the United boss. "And then maybe I have to respond to all the questions asking why I chose the three centre-backs. But now I can laugh."

The joke ended up being on Arsenal's attacking players rather than the unlikely trio of defenders that Van Gaal had picked - Chris Smalling, Tyler Blackett and Paddy McNair - who surprisingly held out until Olivier Giroud's ferocious strike in stoppage time.

Saturday evening's defeat was not the same old story for the Gunners either - they did not take the lead this time, for starters.

And while we already knew that both teams are unlikely to mount a title challenge, there were still things to be learned from a game billed as the battle for fourth place.

It had taken United until the 85th minute to muster a shot on target, with Kieran Gibbs' bizarre own goal gifting them the lead before Wayne Rooney's late strike prevented the game finishing with that odd statistic.

As well as his first away win as United boss, this was arguably the first win under Van Gaal that had been earned by his defence.

Arsene Wenger was keen to point out that David De Gea was man of the match at Emirates Stadium but in truth the United keeper made a lot of saves he would be expected to make, rather than any truly outstanding ones.

Or as Van Gaal put it: "Most of his saves were from outside the area and from that distance the goalkeeper has more advantage than the player shooting."

The biggest reason De Gea's recently dislocated finger was not truly tested was United's makeshift backline, something few people expected to be saying before this game when they saw the team sheet with the names of Smalling, McNair and Blackett on it.

A fourth clean sheet of the season looked even less likely when one of the wing-backs, Luke Shaw, was forced off after 16 minutes to be replaced by Ashley Young - who according to his manager is not fully fit.

At that stage, Arsenal were rampant and it seemed a case of when they would score, not if. But instead of collapsing, United stood firm.

Smalling, who is not viewed as natural leader, marshalled the youngsters either side of him. In front of them, Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini added much-needed bite to midfield.

Together they earned Van Gaal a win that moved his side up to fourth in the table - something he seemed surprised about when he was told.

Credit: BBC Sport