What Ruben Amorim got right as 10-men Man Utd beat Arsenal on pens after brawl

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What Ruben Amorim got right as 10-men Man Utd beat Arsenal on pens after brawl

Manchester United and Arsenal renewed their fierce rivalry on Sunday afternoon with an incident-filled FA Cup third round clash.

The Red Devils made the trip down to north London as they opened up their FA Cup title defence. Ruben Amorim's side had started the better of the pair, even taking the lead. But a red card handed to Diogo Dalot spun the game on its head.

A controversial penalty was awarded to Arsenal as Kai Havertz went down in the box, with Harry Maguire raging at the German forward and a brawl breaking out on the pitch.

Neither side could find the net again - and the tie went to penalties, with United coming out on top. And Daily Star Sport has a look at what Amorim got right as the Red Devils progress.

There's no doubt about it, Bruno Fernandes is an incredible footballer.

And he proved it again on Sunday afternoon as he used all his calmness and composure to wrap his foot around the ball and curl it into the far corner. The Portuguese midfielder also scored a fine penalty when called upon in the shootout.

Fernandes is a trap, however, that has stumped the past couple of United managers. He is often trusted beyond doubt by whoever is in the hot-seat at Old Trafford. When he's good he's great, today's game was an example, but the boss can't relay on his captain to win games as often as they do.

Ruben Amorim has whipped the United backline into shape.

They were well structured against Liverpool and the FA Cup third round was no different. The Gunners were left frustrated for the better part of an hour as they could not break down the United defence.

It took a silly challenge from Diogo Dalot to reduce the Red Devils to 10 men and allow the Gunners back into the game. There wasn't a lot Amorim could have done about the goal - there was only a couple of minutes between the red and the goal.

However, his side then resumed their impressive defensive performance and thwarted Mikel Arteta's men even though they held the numerical advantage.

You have to feel for Rasmus Hojlund, he arrived at United with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Hojlund had been good in Serie A, but that's it - he had shown potential.

Hojlund was on the pitch on Sunday, in case you missed it. The £70m man made little or no impact, just as he did last weekend at Anfield.

The young Dane just isn't good enough, and that's the bottom line. Amorim needs to put his hands in his pockets in January, because United just won't go anywhere with Hojlund leading the line.

Manchester United discovered a new hero on Sunday.

Altay Bayındır was the standout player on Sunday afternoon - he stopped Martin Odegaard from the spot and then denied Kai Havertz from close range. In fact, the German would come close again but failed to hit the target.

And it was the Havertz horror show from the spot, as Bayındır's big strong left hand pushed his spot-kick wide to put United on the front foot in the shootout and ultimately gain the win.

United thrived on the chaos of the clash.

Arsenal wanted a more structured game, the Gunners were aiming to pass the Red Devils to death. However, Amorim's side had other ideas, everything was frantic and Arsenal had no defence for it.

"Chaos is in United favour," one fan posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. And another added: "This United team thrives in chaos!"

Amorim hasn't been at Old Trafford long, but he is harnessing what he has at his disposal to secure big results against teams far above the Red Devils in the Premier League table - first Manchester City, then Liverpool and now Arsenal.

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