Manchester United endured a narrow 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in their opening Premier League game of the season. The Gunners’ only goal came in the 13th minute from a set-piece, with Ricardo Calafiori heading the ball in. The goal was widely controversial, as Altay Bayindir appeared to be impeded on the goal line.

Manchester United deserved at least a point, dominating possession with 61% and registering 22 shots.

After the loss, Ruben Amorim expressed satisfaction with his team’s performance. He said: “It was a very good performance. I’m really proud of the players, but in the end, we lost the game. Again, for me, you can win or lose, but I am proud of what they did. It’s a good feeling.” He added: “No, we have players capable of winning any game in the Premier League. We need to focus. Forget about the noise. We are fighting for the places, which is a good thing, but we are playing as a team. It doesn’t matter who’s playing; we want to win games.”

He also spoke about the club’s next fixture: “It’s really hard to lose that game. Now we have to work tomorrow to recover and then prepare for the next game, focusing on the small things and the big things. We need to improve.”

Arsenal were delighted with the win. The team was proud to have kept a clean sheet, with Raya making seven saves and earning the Man of the Match award.

Following the win, Raya said: “When the quality wasn’t there, we weren’t at our best with the ball, so that was our fight. We got a goal in the first half, and from there, we just fought until the end. It’s days like this when the three points count.”

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta told Sky Sports : “Massive win. To go into the first fixture at Old Trafford, with that atmosphere, the way they’re building momentum, with new signings and excitement around it, it’s a great feeling. And then we have to be really humble about the way we did it.”

“We did it because of the way we reacted to mistakes. Two unfortunate mistakes—mistakes that are very far from the standards we normally have—and we constantly reacted to that. And that’s the reason why we had the opportunity to win again. You’re talking about character and spirit, that’s it. I can make a mistake. How do I react to that? In open spaces, we should have killed them. The way everybody tried, the defense was phenomenal.”

“I just look at the players’ faces, and they want much more. We know we are much better than in certain moments. I think before I came here, it was 18 or 22 years without winning at Old Trafford, and now we come here, we’ve won many times, and we’re still unsatisfied. I take that as a massive compliment and as a way to build what we want to build.”