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Matheus Cunha's directness is exactly what Manchester United have been lacking.

Within the first 45 minutes, the Brazilian had managed three shots on target and a surging run through the heart of Arsenal's midfield saw him beat three players before being unable to apply the finishing touch.

His powerful running style combined to be effective when pressing as United looked to suffocate Arsenal's defence, but also aided his ability to dribble with the ball.

Last season saw him outperform his xG significantly, and after just one competitive game at Old Trafford, it's easy to see how he managed to score 15 Premier League goals last season.

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Costing a combined £127.5m, there was always going to be significant pressure on the shoulders of Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbuemo.

With those two in from the the start against Arsenal, and £74m striker Benjamin Sesko on the bench, expectation was high at Old Trafford.

The only thing missing from a strong opening day performance? A goal.

A willingness to run with the ball and press from the front saw Cunha and Mbuemo cause Arsenal problems and force Mikel Arteta's side in to defending their one goal lead.

Let's take a look at the three new attackers...

While you are watching Simon and Alex's analysis, we are going to switch focus to the Manchester United debutants.

Our football reporters Simon Stone and Alex Howell, who were at Old Trafford on Sunday, are discussing Arsenal's 1-0 victory as well as the rest of the big talking points from the Premier League's opening weekend.

Click watch live at the top of this page to hear their analysis.

BBC Radio 5 Live

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Former Manchester United midfielder Jesper Blomqvist believes there's a big positive to take into the season despite losing on the opening day.

“You can lose and be really disappointed because you didn’t play well or show the right attitude or, you can lose and show the right attitude," Blomqvist told BBC 5 Live.

"United had to show the right attitude and they really did and that’s a positive sign. When you looked at the players on the team, they were really working hard together."

On Sesko's debut, he added: “He will need some more time on the training pitch. Pre-season Amorim talked a lot about the connection between the players not just on the pitch and that later transfers onto the pitch.

"He will definitely be a great asset when the season starts now."

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Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim speaking to Sky Sports: "The most important thing - we weren't boring. I'm really proud of the guys. They were really brave in everything they did during the game.

"We clearly deserved a different result and we need to move forward to the next one. We need to win games but that was a completely different game to last season.

"We were more aggressive than last year, we sprinted more, we were braver, we went one against one for the whole game and we pressed high."

Roy Keane
Former Manchester United captain on Sky Sports

It's another defeat, no goals. There's still that worry, I had it before the match, what we saw, but you never felt like United had two or three goals in them.

We discussed it many times before, we're going around in circles, that worry about United at the back. Ultimately, I'm hearing noises about being proud about the performance but they've lost the game.

Talk about not being boring, you've got to score otherwise you're constantly under pressure. The first thing that comes to mind about United in the last 20 to 30 years is the goalscorers, they've brought a couple through the door but I don't see it with the other group.

Bruno [Fernandes] has come out and said about the fans but that means little to me, I think the expectation is that low, everyone is almost happy about that."

Time for another switcheroo as we move on from Arsenal to Manchester United, who can take plenty from the game despite defeat.

BBC Radio 5 Live

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Former Arsenal defender Lee Dixon told BBC 5 Live this morning that despite things not going 'quite right' for the Gunners, Mikel Arteta will be happy with the win.

When asked if Gabriel and Saliba looked flustered in defence, Dixon said: “Yeah they did a little bit which was surprising but, credit goes to United. They started the game really well. Cunha and Mbeumo were making all sorts of problems for the two centre-backs. Especially Calafiori on the left side, Mbeumo's positions were really causing him problems.

“We drew too many games last season. Mikel secretly is probably quite pleased with how the game went.

“Mikel was really insightful after the game when he said it was a humble result based on the fact that there were things that weren’t quite right."

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It's now time for everyone's favourite statistic, xG.

Across the 90 minutes Manchester United had an xG of 1.59, compared to Arsenal's 1.05.

As well as dominating possession United had the best chances, with Patrick Dorgu striking the post in the first half and Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbuemo both drawing smart saves from David Raya.

Emphasising that point further, Arsenal's open play xG was just 0.29 and demonstrates a reliance on set pieces.

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Mikel Arteta has only won more Premier League games as a manager against Wolves (9) than he has against Manchester United (W8 D2 L2).

That puts him on top for the best win rate at 67% among managers to have taken charge of five+ matches against the Red Devils in the competition.

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta speaking to BBC Match of the Day: "We came here away and won which is a big result. We were clearly not at our best. We attacked the box and we reacted well to unusual mistakes. The team reacted time after time in an incredible way. Very proud of that because that is why we got the opportunity to win the game.

"We showed a resilience and a will to win. They put you on the ropes here, you will have to have moments when you suffer. To find a way to win at this ground, I'm very happy with the team.

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There are two ways of looking at it from an Arsenal perspective.

One is that they will have to improve as the season progresses if they are to win a first Premier League title since 2004.

However, 'winning ugly' is often the mark of champions and their defensive resilience and effectiveness from set pieces are two of their biggest assets.

Whilst Mikel Arteta accepted that his side did not play well, there is no doubt that it's a good start to their season.

With games to come against Liverpool and Manchester City before the end of September, stiffer tests lie just around the corner, but it's job done on the opening day.

Time to move away from Viktor Gyokeres now and analyse Arsenal's performance in general.

Daniel Sturridge
Former Liverpool striker on Sky Sports

Arsenal have been playing with a striker in Kai Havertz that is very different to Gyokeres, so it does take time to get used to the new player's runs.

He is also going to have to alter his game, it's not just about the team changing for him but him changing for the team. That's what it takes to hit the ground running.

The Algarve? You are just showing off now, Ollie.

*Stares at grey Salford sky*