Step aside David Raya, Wayne Rooney says two other Arsenal players were ‘excellent’ against Man United

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Arsenal weren’t at their best against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, although two players did catch the eye of Wayne Rooney.

Mikel Arteta’s side began their season with a 1-0 win over their north-west counterparts, with Riccardo Calafiori’s early header giving the North Londoners all three points.

This was just the fourth time in the last 20 years that the Gunners have been victorious at the Theatre of Dreams in the Premier League.

Despite this, Arteta won’t be satisfied with his team’s performance, as they struggled to control the game against a weak United side.

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Wayne Rooney says William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes were ‘excellent’ against Manchester United

While United didn’t threaten too significantly throughout the 90 minutes, David Raya was called into action on a handful of occasions.

The Spanish goalkeeper got down low to excellently push a Matheus Cunha shot wide in the first half, before astutely palming a Bryan Mbeumo header away from goal in the second period.

In spite of these Raya heroics, Wayne Rooney identified two other Arsenal players who impressed him in Manchester.

Speaking on the Wayne Rooney Show, the former United striker said both William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes were ‘excellent’ for the Gunners, particularly towards the end of the game.

“Arsenal were very poor in that game as well,” he said.

“They came away with a one-nil victory. But I think what I would say is the two centre-backs, I thought they started a little bit shaky, actually, at the start of the game.

“But then they showed the class towards the end of the game. I thought they were excellent in leading the team, getting clearances out of the box. And I think they’re going to be huge if Arsenal are going to be successful this year.”

William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes’ statistics vs Manchester United

Martin Zubimendi was praised for his performance against United, although Saliba and Gabriel were certainly the standout performers alongside Raya, particularly in the second half.

Gabriel looked rusty and lacking match sharpness in the early portion of the game, but improved as he settled down.

In the second period, the Brazilian made a number of crucial defensive interventions to prevent anything promising from really materialising for United.

Meanwhile, Saliba also started poorly, giving the ball away in dangerous areas on a few occasions early on.

However, the Frenchman demonstrated his class as the game wore on, using his exceptional close control to elude United players when they were pressing him.