Arsenal vs. Manchester United: Player ratings

David de Gea 8

Most of his saves were from shots right at him, but he had a confident game in goal and was pretty faultless other than perhaps his positioning for Arsenal's goal.

Chris Smalling 7

His best performance in a while, not doing too much wrong and producing one fine tackle in particular. Still never a United player.

Paddy McNair 8

Did little wrong and was the most composed head in the defence under the waves of Arsenal attacks. Four wins in four starts now.

Tyler Blackett 4

Not good enough by a very long way. Typified everything we've seen from him so far - no composure on the ball, terrible positional sense, and atrocious decision-making. Get rid.

Antonio Valencia 6

Really was just there, did nothing particularly well or poorly in the whole game. Which is, in fairness, above his average these days.

Marouane Fellaini 8

Surprisingly excellent, and in more than just getting in the way. Some of his passing was actually quite good - around the box he was as unable to find a decent ball as ever, but from deep he set up United counter-attacks with precise, fast balls to get the play moving forward. A fine performance.

Michael Carrick 3

His efforts in the game consisted of one block and one ball over the top to nobody. Even by his standards, he was a passenger - it may well have been United's intent to sit deep, but even doing that, he was never able to stop United's defence from being completely exposed with every Arsenal attack or produce any calmness on the ball, the two things he is precisely supposed to offer. Not good enough - probably never was, certainly not now.

Ashley Young 6

Much like his counterpart on the other side, Young did little wrong but nothing more thn acceptable.

Angel di Maria 7

Some nice touches, and probably no coincidence that he looks better once he's moved back into the centre. Despite all that, terrible miss that could have proved costly and could have shown just a little bit more genuine menace.

Robin van Persie 3

Just horrible - anonymous when we had the ball, lazy when we didn't, ruined several good counter-attacking chances and one passage of play saw him receive the ball in the box before it ended up getting played back to theh goalkeeper. He really, really looks like he can't be arsed, even against these opponents.

Wayne Rooney 8

A good performance today - the style of the game meant his weaknesses were lessened and he thrived as a result, taking his goal beautifully.