We kicked off our 100th consecutive season of top-flight football with a hard-fought win at Old Trafford.
Riccardo Calafiori headed the only goal of the game, from directly under the crossbar when Declan Rice’s devilish inswinging corner wasn’t dealt with by United keeper Altay Bayindir
We had to soak up periods of pressure after that, as the hosts came close through Patrick Dorgu and Matheus Cunha.
David Raya stood firm though, while William Saliba also made a crucial tackle on Cunha late on to give us a winning start to the new campaign.
Set-piece opener
The opening ten minutes were played at a frenetic pace, with both sides flying into challenges trying to lay down early markers.
Bryan Mbeumo had an early shot easily saved by David Raya before Viktor Gyokeres showed his physical presence by winning an early 50-50.
We took the lead just inside the quarter of an hour mark. Rice swung in a corner from the left that United keeper Bayindir could not get any meaningful contact on, and Calafiori was there to head in from right under the cross bar.
We scored 14 Premier League goals from corners last season, and didn’t have to wait long to show our set piece prowess again this term.
United go close
The hosts responded strongly to going behind though, and two or three times caught us on the break after winning the ball quickly in midfield.
Dorgu stormed forward on the left and struck a low shot against the foot of the post before Cunha rode three challenges in the middle of the pitch to burst through on goal, but his shot trickled through to Raya.
At the other end Martin Odegaard also couldn’t generate enough power on his attempt from the edge of the box.
The lively Cunha then forced another low save from Raya, this time from a tight angle, and it was far from routine this time for the Spaniard.
The shot count increased as United put us under more pressure, and they started the second-half strongly too.
Second-half changes
Mason Mount had a goalbound shot blocked before Raya clawed away a dangerous free-kick from under his crossbar.
Mikel Arteta sent on Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke – the latter our third debutant of the afternoon – in an attempt to win some more territory.
United responded by bringing on Benjamin Sesko and came close to an equaliser when Cunha carved out a chance for Mbeumo, but Gabriel made a superb block.
Raya then sprung to our rescue, palming away Mbeumo’s header down to his left.
As the game ticked towards injury-time William Saliba made a crucial tackle to deny Cunha two yards from goal.
It proved to be enough to secure three points and get our 2025/26 season up and running with a superb result.
What’s next
Our first home game of the season is next weekend, against Leeds United in the Premier League, kicking off at 5.30pm (UK time) on Saturday. Then we will have a trip to Anfield the following Sunday before the first international break of the new campaign.
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