De Gea: Man Utd defended better without Paul Pogba

Oli Fisher

David De Gea has claimed that Manchester United defended better with 10 men in their 3-1 win at Arsenal.

The Spaniard made a number of crucial saves in the win, making 14 in total, which is more than any other goalkeeper has made in a Premier League match this season.

Goals from Jesse Lingard (2) and Antonio Valencia helped the Red Devils to victory despite the Gunners reducing the deficit to 2-1 just after half-time through Alexandre Lacazette.

De Gea told MUTV afterwards: “Sometimes, you just start a game with a really good save, with a good feeling, you feel that [unstoppable] but we started the game really well, we scored two important goals and it’s true that we lost a bit of a control of the game after, but it was a good performance.”

He then revealed his favourite save from the afternoon: “Probably the double save when we were winning 2-1 [in the second half].

“I think that was the most important save but, like I said, the full team defended very well and fought for the three points.”

De Gea also had to react quickly to prevent Romelu Lukaku from scoring an own goal, something that has not been forgotten.

“Yes, he nearly scored an own goal! But I saved that ball and after that, I think he did a really good job,” added De Gea.

The former Atletico Madrid man also admitted that United defended better after Paul Pogba saw red.

“We probably defended better after Paul was sent off,” said De Gea.

“We defended very well, I don’t think they created many chances after that, so the three points stayed with us. It was a brilliant performance from the team, defensively and on the counter attack we killed them, so we’re really happy with the three points.”

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