Manchester, Oct 1 (IANS): Arsenal played a 1-1 draw with Manchester United to climb to fourth place in the Premier League.
The Gunners, with 12 points from seven matches, are two behind third-place Leicester City. Manchester United, meanwhile, sit in the 10th spot with only 9 points, their poorest showing in the first seven games since 1989, reports Efe news.
The 73,000-plus in the stands at the Old Trafford on a rainy Monday night in Manchester had to endure nearly half-an-hour of tedium in the clash between two clubs struggling to recover their accustomed places among the elite of English soccer.
But the tempo quickened in the 29th minute with a shot by United's Andreas Pereira that forced a save from goalkeeper Bernd Leno and the rest of the first half saw end-to-end action.
Only the skill of Red Devil keeper David De Gea prevented the visitors from grabbing the lead in the 44th minute, when the Spain international turned aside a shot by Bukayo Saka and then handled Matteo Guendouzi's effort on the rebound.
A minute later, it were United who went up 1-0 on Scott McTominay's spectacular blast from outside the area.
Arsenal started the second half determined to pull level, yet could have found themselves down 2-0 if the referee had spotted an apparent hand ball by Sead Kolasinac.
As the match-clock approached the hour mark, Saka sent the ball to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who beat De Gea for the equalizer.
While the offside flag was up, a subsequent VAR review found no offside violation and the referee awarded the goal to leave the teams level at 1-1.
The Gunners had a chance to take the lead a few minutes later, but Saka's shot off a Kolasinac cross was deflected.
Paul Pogba came close to reclaiming the lead for the hosts in the 64th minute and McTominay should have scored with a header in the 70th.
United got a final opportunity when they won a free kick not far outside the area in stoppage time, yet Leno came up with an impressive stop to thwart Marcus Rashford and preserve the point for the visitors.