Eddie Nketiah scored a brace - including a 90th-minute winner - as Arsenal passed a massive test of their Premier League title credentials with an enthralling 3-2 win over Manchester United at the Emirates.
In a magnificent watch between two phenomenal attacking forces, Nketiah and Bukayo Saka cancelled out Marcus Rashford's sublime opener before Lisandro Martinez levelled the scores.
However, Nketiah intelligently flicked home his second of the match with minutes remaining to spark pandemonium in North London, as Arsenal moved onto 50 points from their opening 19 games of the season.
Playing like two teams with title ambitions from the get-go, both Arsenal and Man United played their part in a frenetic start to the game, although sloppiness came into play for the hosts.
Thomas Partey and Gabriel Martinelli in particular were guilty of some misplaced passes, and the former was left run ragged by Rashford for the game's opening goal in the 17th minute.
© Reuters
The England international intercepted Partey's pass, received the ball back from Bruno Fernandes and weaved his way past the Arsenal man before finding the bottom corner with a brilliant strike from outside the area.
While celebrating in front of the Arsenal fans, Rashford witnessed the Gooners roar their team on for a response, which nearly came in the 22nd minute as Martinelli fired just wide from Saka's short corner.
However, only two minutes later, Granit Xhaka whipped in an inch-perfect ball from the left to the back post, where Nketiah caught Aaron Wan-Bissaka napping and headed home the equaliser.
Mikel Arteta's side were galvanised by their goal, but Man United continued to pose a sustained threat on the break, as Scott McTominay saw a goalbound curler beaten away by Aaron Ramsdale in the 28th minute.
Forever scurrying up and down the touchline and reacting angrily to a challenge on Saka from Luke Shaw, Arteta's protests earned him a yellow card from referee Anthony Taylor in the 33rd minute, and the Spaniard made a smart change at half time to avoid any further disciplinary infringements - hooking the booked Ben White for Takehiro Tomiyasu.
© Reuters
The Premier League leaders started the second half well on top, and anything that Rashford could do, Saka could do better, as the 21-year-old cut in from the right and fired a sensational long-range effort into the far corner in the 53rd minute to send Arsenal ahead.
The battle for supremacy between the two English wingers would not cease, as Rashford forced Ramsdale into a brilliant save down low only three minutes later after the Man United man twisted and turned Tomiyasu inside out.
Gareth Southgate was in attendance to witness the Three Lions crop steal the show, but Ramsdale would not have impressed the England boss in the 59th minute, as he came to claim a corner but could only parry the ball into the path of Martinez, whose looping header found the net despite the best efforts of Gabriel Magalhaes.
Nearly scoring a carbon copy of his wonder strike, Saka's deflected shot off Christian Eriksen struck the post on its way behind in the 70th minute, as Arsenal huffed and puffed for a winner in the dying embers.
© Reuters
Arteta sent on Leandro Trossard for his debut as Arsenal ramped up the pressure, but it was Nketiah who forced David de Gea into a fantastic reaction save down low in the 84th minute.
The pressure would eventually pay off for the Gunners, as Oleksandr Zinchenko's cross from the left in the 90th minute found Martin Odegaard, whose scuffed shot fell kindly for Nketiah to backheel home.
The Englishman had just kept himself onside, and Arsenal survived a few minutes of injury time to post a special win in front of their own fans, re-establishing a five-point lead over Manchester City - who have played a game more - at the top of the table in the process.
Arsenal are next in action away to Manchester City in their FA Cup fourth-round tie next weekend, while Erik ten Hag's men - who are now 11 points behind the Gunners in fourth - take on Nottingham Forest in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final on Wednesday.
Ben Knapton
