David De Gea: I Felt Unbeatable

David De Gea said he felt unbeatable after playing a starring role in Manchester United’s thrilling 3-1 victory over Arsenal on Saturday evening.

The Spaniard was the overwhelming winner of the club's Man of the Match award by fans on Twitter after making 14 saves – the joint highest total in a Premier League game since Opta recorded that data in 2003/04 – to keep the Gunners at bay.

Although Antonio Valencia's early strike and Jesse Lingard's brace ultimately secured a first win for United at the Emirates Stadium since 2014, De Gea's significant contribution cannot be overlooked as the no.1 was in outstanding form between the sticks – beaten only by Alexandre Lacazette's strike early in the second half.

When asked if he felt unbeatable, De Gea told MUTV: “Sometimes, you just start a game with a really good save, with a good feeling, you feel that [unbeatable] but we started the game really well, we scored two important goals and it’s true that we lost a bit of a control of the game after, but it was a good performance.”

With United leading 2-1 at the time, De Gea made a remarkable double save to deny Lacazette's low half-volley and Alexis Sanchez's effort on the follow-up. When asked which was his favourite from a fine string of stops, he acknowledged: “Probably the double save when we were winning 2-1 [in the second half].

"I think that was the most important save but, like I said, the full team defended very well and fought for the three points.”

De Gea even had to react quickly to make a save from team-mate Romelu Lukaku, who inadvertently turned a Sanchez free-kick towards goal when the ball hit his leg as he fell to the ground under pressure from Granit Xhaka.

The keeper joked: “Yes, he nearly scored an own goal! But I saved that ball and after that, I think he did a really good job.”

The Reds were threatening on the break throughout the game and defended heroically at times, with Paul Pogba's red card being the only negative on an otherwise memorable evening. De Gea felt his team were successfully solid after the midfielder's dismissal.

“We probably defended better after Paul was sent off,” he said. “We defended very well, I don’t think they created many chances after that, so the three points stayed with us. It was a brilliant performance from the team, defensively and on the counter attack we killed them, so we’re really happy with the three points.”

The crucial win in North London meant United have recorded four successive league wins for the first time this season – including two impressive victories on the road in the space of five days, after Tuesday’s 4-2 success at Watford.

De Gea admitted it's been a tough week but the positive results have given the team plenty of confidence, heading into an important double-header at Old Trafford against CSKA Moscow in the UEFA Champions League and leaders Manchester City in the Premier League derby.

The Spanish stopper added: “We're really happy. I think they were both very tough games away from home so we now have confidence to play the last Champions League group game and after that, the derby. We're really confident now, we score many goals and this is the key as we look forward to the next game."