London, Dec 5 (IANS): Goals from Jurrien Timber and William Saliba earn Arsenal saw Arsenal clinch a fourth straight win over Manchester United for the first time ever with 2-0 victory at Emirates Stadium.

Set pieces did the damage yet again, with Jurrien Timber turning in a Declan Rice delivery eight minutes after half-time to register his first goal for the club.

Arsenal doubled their lead in similar fashion, this time from the opposite side when Bukayo Saka’s back-post delivery was headed back across by Thomas Partey, with William Saliba providing the finishing touch.

Kai Havertz almost put the hosts further in front but was thwarted by Onana, with substitute Mikel Merino nearly scoring from another corner moments later.

"Very happy, it was a special night in this incredible stadium. I think we deserved to win the game. We changed the team due to a few injuries, but what an energy in the stadium.

"We got into the second half and we changed a few things - the team was superb. The team needs every possible result to win the game - let's continue that," gunners boss Mikel Arteta said.

Despite their victory, Arsenal drop to third on goal difference after Chelsea’s 5-1 thrashing of Southampton, but they close the gap to leaders Liverpool to seven points, while United are 11th.

Notably, United manager Ruben Amorim suffered his first league defeat since December 2023 (Sporting CP 2-3 Vitoria Guimaraes), with tonight’s result ending a 34-game unbeaten run for the Portuguese coach in league competitions (W31 D3).