Cavani's misses and Lacazetta's injury
Some time ago, the meeting between Arsenal and Manchester United was far less likely to be seen as a confrontation between relatively equal rivals.
Throughout the first third of the championship, Mikel Arteta's wards experienced serious problems, and after the 14th round they were in 15th place and risked dropping into the relegation zone.
But a six-game unbeaten run put them back in the race for a spot in European competition.
On the eve of a fundamental confrontation, the “Gunners” occupied the ninth position and were only five points behind the fifth line, which gives the right to qualify for the Europa League.
The team of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer approached this match in the status of the second team of the Premier League, as a result of which it was naturally considered the favorite.
Moreover, this was due not only to a high place in the table, but also a number of losses in the enemy's lineup.
So, because of pain in the hip, Bukayo Saka could not enter the field, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was absent for family reasons.
This season, the native of Gabon has distinguished himself eight times and could well have been at the base, if not for the health problems of his mother.
In addition, Kieran Tierney was lacking on the left flank of the defense, which played a very important role in the formation of the squad for the game of Manchester United.
The Norwegian specialist decided to surprise the vis-a-vis and presented a very interesting line-up.
First of all, it seemed like the positions of Pogba and Rashford.
The Frenchman unexpectedly settled down on the left flank of midfield, while his partner took a place on the opposite edge.
Apparently, it was the Englishman who was supposed to help extract dividends from Tierney's absence and exert maximum pressure on the replacement of Scotsman Cedric Soares.
Therefore, it is not surprising that it was he who had the most obvious scoring chance in the first half.
At the very end, Markus found himself openly in the penalty area and could hit the opponent's goal, but instead of hitting, he decided to handle the ball, dug in and missed his chance.
In general, the first half was dictated by Manchester United.
At first, Arsenal had more control over the ball and even created dangerous episodes, however, all of them were the result of sharp counterattacks.
Closer to the middle of the segment, the Mankunians seized the initiative and did not give up the threads of the game until the end of the 45-minute.
Arteta's wards in large forces retreated to their half, and began to put pressure again only after McTominay left the field.
The Scot was damaged and had to ask for a replacement.
At the same time, instead of a defensive player, there appeared not a colleague in the role, but the nominal striker Antoni Martial.
According to the scenario, the second half turned out to be similar to the first, however, the attacking impulse of the "Gunners" wilted in a much shorter period of time.
Willian, who came on as a substitute at half-time, revived the Londoners' game, but only for seven minutes.
After that, the Brazilian almost left the field due to injury, and subsequently was not so active.
The most dangerous moment at the gate of David De Gea occurred in the 65th minute, when Alexander Lacazette hit the crossbar from the free-kick.
Also on the edge was Nicolas Pepe, but his creeping blows into the far corner were inaccurate.
Manchester United were much closer to a goal, but each time they lacked quite a bit of luck.
Especially unlucky for Edinson Cavani, who failed to realize two 100% chances.
At first, he missed after a cool combination that ended with a cross by Luke Shaw, and in the 88th minute he could not close Aaron One-Bissaki's cross.
The Uruguayan miraculously adjusted to the transfer of a partner and struck in an acrobatic sketch, but the ball went past.
It is noteworthy that Martial was in a more advantageous position, but his teammate did not notice him.
Among other things, the last minutes were remembered by the appearance on the field of Martin Edegaard, rented from Real Madrid, and by the injury of Lacazette.
The Frenchman was injured during a horse fight with Harry Maguire, landing unsuccessfully on the lawn.
As a result, the striker was helped for a long time, after which he was completely replaced by Edward Nketia.
The Norwegian did not have time to be remembered for his active actions, but went down in history.
The midfielder became the first representative of his country since 1993 to wear an Arsenal jersey in an official match.
Manchester United drew with Arsenal, but although they allowed City to increase the lead to three points, they set a personal record for the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League.
Solskjaer's wards have not lost in the 18th meeting in a row, and the last failure took place more than a year ago.
On January 19, 2020, the Red Devils were beaten by Liverpool (0: 2).
Handsome goal Nkunku and Angelinho's activity
In Germany, in the central match of the 19th round, the second and third teams of the Bundesliga sorted out the relationship.
“Leipzig” and “Bayer” have already managed to feel themselves in the role of a leader during the championship, but subsequently began to lose points and let the hegemon of German football - Bayern - go ahead.
It is noteworthy that both began to storm at about the same time - from the beginning of 2021.
In the last five meetings, the “bulls” won and lost two times, once having played a draw, their opponents had only one victory, however, Borussia Dortmund was defeated.
Thus, before the face-to-face confrontation, the teams shared only three points, and if successful, the guests could bypass the vis-a-vis in additional indicators.
Opponents from Leipzig and Leverkusen were also united by the fact that both approached this match with serious losses.
Julian Nagelsmann could not count on six performers, including one of the leaders in the system "goal + pass" Emil Forsberg (5 goals + 5 assists) and recently acquired from Salzburg Dominik Soboslai.
Bayer's personnel problems were no less impressive.
There were seven players in the infirmary at the same time, and each of the lines suffered.
Despite this, Bose's wards confirmed their status as one of the leaders of the league in possession of the ball and acted as the first number for most of the meeting.
Looking ahead, this did not bring them success.
Relying on hard pressure and high-speed counter-attacks, Leipzig twice surpassed their opponents in the number of shots on goal (16 - 8), and the difference in expected goals (xG) was also quite noticeable (1.69 - 0.91).
Already in the first half, the hosts had several excellent opportunities to excel, and in the 13th minute the ball first appeared in the net.
Angelinho broke through on the left flank and made a pass to Marcel Zabitzer, who, though not with the first touch, caught Lukas Hradecki by surprise.
However, the referee recorded an offside position.
As part of Leipzig, the trio of Angelinho, Olmo and Nkunku looked especially bright.
For three, they struck 10 strikes on the opponent's goal, one of which ended in a goal.
In the 50th minute, Dani rolled the ball to Christopher almost to the border of the penalty area, and he was allowed to hit the ball twice.
The first attempt was blocked and the second resulted in a goal.
The Frenchman was the first on the rebound, with one touch effectively removed both Florian Wirtz and Edmond Tapsob, and then shot into the corner.
In the remaining time, the hosts could both strengthen the advantage in the score and miss the victory.
First, Alexander Serlot hit the post, and in the very ending, Patrick Schick and Lucas Alario did not use two excellent chances for a couple of seconds.
Both fired from a distance of several meters, but could not beat Peter Gulachi.
Leipzig beat Bayer Leverkusen for the first time since April 2019 and continued their pursuit of Bayern Munich.