10-man Manchester United’s hero of the day turned out to be Altay Bayindir as they dumped Arsenal out of the FA Cup on penalties on Sunday, January 12. Bayindir made a save in normal time and one during the shootout after the match ended 1-1 with Diogo Dalot being sent off for Manchester United in the second half. The decisions from referee Andrew Madley certainly was one of the main talking points of the day which had started in a rather slow pace.
It was a cagey start to the match as United did have possession early before Arsenal started to boss the ball a lot more. The Gunners thought they had taken the lead in the 19th minute when Gabriel Martinelli was able to go past the defenders and slot the ball home past Bayindir. However, the offside flag had gone up, much to the happiness of the away end fans.
The rest of the half was largely uneventful with Kobbie Mainoo registering the first shot on target for the visitors with a long-range effort. Arsenal would lose Gabriel Jesus to an injury, but not before he was able to distract Bruno Fernandes from taking a shot on target. The referee didn’t give a foul, to the dismay of Fernandes and the travelling fans.
The second half would start much in the vein of the first one as Arsenal were dominant on the ball with United hoping for a quick counter-attack. The Red Devils then got the chance to go ahead after Gabriel’s mistake allowed Alejandro Garnacho to run at the defence and set up Fernandes, who made no mistake in slotting it home in the 52nd minute.
Arsenal almost found the equaliser instantly as Martinelli’s cross was hit onto the ground by Maguire in unconvincing fashion and Havertz’ effort was well-wide. This was first of many chances the German would miss on the day.
The game would change in the 61st minute when a wild challenge from Diogo Dalot saw him get his second yellow card and get his marching orders. A minute later, Gabriel was able to get the Gunners their equaliser as the Emirates stadium erupted. Andrew Madley, the referee, had the spotlight on him for some big calls during the night but made his most infamous one in the 69th minute as he awarded a penalty for Arsenal.
Havertz was inside the box and seemingly Maguire had brought him down for the spotkick to be awarded. However, replays showed that the German had dived. Martin Odegaard stepped up to take the spotkick to give Arsenal the lead, but Bayindir had other plans.
The United goalkeeper pulled off an incredible save to deny the Gunners skipper in the 72nd minute. Soon after, the Turkish goalkeeper was called in to action yet again as he pulled off a brilliant save to deny Declan Rice from breaking the deadlock.
United were holding on for their dear lives to push the game into extra time. This is when Havertz had another golden chance to win the game but he would scoop the ball from 2 yards out and over the bar. Rice would also miss the goal by a whisker as his shot was parried just wide by Bayindir.
The big chance in extra time presented itself to Leandro Trossard, who was blocked off the line by De Ligt. Arsenal’s constant attacks were being thwarted well by United, who would have a big chance of their own at the beginning of the second half of extra time as Joshua Zirkzee’s shot was saved by David Raya.
United were able to hold off Arsenal to push the game into penalties.
Bruno Fernandes was the first to step up and he scored to give the visitors the lead in the shootout. Odegaard would make amends for his earlier miss as he converted his spotkick to level the scores. Amad Diallo would restore the lead for the visitors before Bayindir was able to thwart Havertz’ effort with a fine save.
Leny Yoro stepped in and showed nerves of steel as he slotted it home to make it 3-1. Declan Rice would cut down the deficit to 3-2 with a fine shot to the right of Bayindir. The lead was once again restored by Martinez with a fantastic strike.
Thomas Partey would make it 4-3 to keep Arsenal’s hopes alive but Zirkzee slotted it home to send United into the next round and show the Gunners the exit door.