Arsenal handed Man Utd ‘a bit of a reality check’ in Emirates Stadium defeat - Shaw

Manchester United defender Luke Shaw believes Arsenal handed ‘a bit of a reality check’ to his side in Sunday’s dramatic Premier League clash at the Emirates Stadium.

There had been talk of the Red Devils gatecrashing their way into the battle for the Premier League title by inflicting only a second defeat of the season on Mikel Arteta’s side. The visitors could not have made a better start as Marcus Rashford’s stinging low drive put them ahead just after the quarter-hour mark.

Arsenal hit back with a fine header from Eddie Nketiah and a stunning strike from Bukayo Saka eight minutes into the second-half. Lisandro Martinez gave United some hope of claiming a point but Nketiah had the final say when he scored the decisive goal of the game as injury-time approached.

Speaking after the game, England left-back Shaw urged his team-mates to move on from an agonising defeat and full focus on Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup semi-final first leg meeting with Nottingham Forest.

He told Sky Sports: “You have to give them credit for what they’ve done this season. We are only halfway but I think they deserve to be at the top from the way they play and how they play.

“But we are only halfway through the season, there is a long way to go, and we have to focus fully on our next game because we have a big semi-final coming up. I think the quality of these games now are getting much more. It was a very tough game to play but these are the games every player wants to play in, to test themselves against the best.

“We are all gutted in the changing room conceding late on but it’s a bit of a reality check as to where we are at the moment. We’ve got to get back to work tomorrow with an extremely big game this Wednesday.”

The result has left the Red Devils 11 points behind Arteta’s men as both sides now turn their attention to their quest for silverware in cup competitions.