Arsenal‘s unbeaten run to the Premier League season came to an end as they suffered a 3-1 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday evening.
Gabriel Martinelli thought he had given Mikel Arteta’s side the lead in the first half, only for VAR to pull it back for a foul by Martin Odegaard on Christian Eriksen.
Not long after, Antony gave Erik ten Hag’s side the lead on his debut, finishing past Aaron Ramsdale after a through ball from Marcus Rashford.
Bukayo Saka levelled for the Gunners shortly after half time but as Arsenal pushed to take the lead, United capitalised on the break, with Rashford breaking the offside trap to score from Bruno Fernandes’ pass, before putting the game to bed from Christian Eriksen’s square ball.
One man who was disappointing in the defeat at Old Trafford was Ben White.
The former Brighton man continued in his new role as a right-back but struggled to have any real influence on the game, with SofaScore awarding him a woeful 6.3 rating for his performance – the joint worst of any player on the pitch.
Was White poor vs Manchester United?
Yes
No
During the game, White contributed just 29 accurate passes with a success rate of 78%, which was a significant decrease on his season average of 47.2 passes and an 86.6% success rate, which emphasises that he was not as strong on the ball as usual.
He also failed to make a single clearance, interception or block a single shot during the game, which again was a decrease on his statistics from so far this season, which goes to show just how much he struggled at Old Trafford.
Passing is normally a strength of White’s, but he wasn’t accurate with any of his long balls, while just one of his three crosses found an Arsenal teammate. That ensured he lost the ball every 4.6 touches during the encounter. Worrying stuff indeed.
White signed from Brighton in a deal worth £50m, and he was heavily criticised by former Aston Villa man and current talkSPORT pundit Gabriel Agbonlahor recently.
He said: “It’s a waste of money what Arsenal paid for him. For me, he’s not good enough.
“To pay £50 million for him, Brighton must be laughing their heads off because he’s not better than Webster or Dunk and he’s not going to start for Arsenal.”
With Takehiro Tomiyasu returning to full fitness, it is unclear whether or not White will keep his place in the side at right-back, or whether he will replace either William Saliba or Gabriel at centre-back.
While it may feel harsh to label him a waste of money, his performance at Old Trafford was certainly disappointing.