Mikel Arteta dreaming of ‘beautiful’ final day after Arsenal beat Manchester United - ‘There are always possibilities'

Mikel Arteta is dreaming of “living one of the most beautiful days” after Arsenal beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford to ensure the title race will be decided on the final day.

Leandro Trossard scored the only goal of the game in the 21st minute after Kai Havertz pounced on some slack defending by Casemiro as United suffered a record-tying ninth defeat of the season at home.

The result moved The Gunners a point above Manchester City, although they will need Pep Guardiola’s side to slip up in one of their final two games if they are to land a first Premier League crown in two decades.

But whatever happens, Arteta is pleased his side have taken a step forward from last season, when they let an eight-point lead slip to lose out to City.

“Today, we wanted to open that door to say, last game in front of our people, our families will be there and let’s live one of the most beautiful days we have lived together and see what happens,” Arteta told Sky Sports.

“It’s football. There are always possibilities.”

Ironically, City’s game in hand is against Spurs on Tuesday night. Havertz, who has been in inspired form of late, admitted he is “going to be the biggest fan of Tottenham ever” for one day and Arteta will also be cheering on the club’s fierce rivals.

Arsenal host Everton, while City welcome West Ham on a final day that will decide one of the closest title battles in recent times.

And it was all made possible thanks to a performance that showed how this Arsenal side are able to dig out results even when not at their best.

A clash between two of the biggest clubs in the world usually provides plenty of fireworks but it was more subdued than usual under the bright Old Trafford lights.

Arsenal started the brighter and deservedly moved ahead when Casemiro was caught napping at the back but clear-cut chances for both sides were few and far between.

Nevertheless, the three points were all that mattered, especially inside a stadium that has offered so little to The Gunners for so long.

“We know the difficulty of it and that’s why we have only won twice in 20 years here,” Arteta added.

“We started the game really well and scored a goal and the goal affected us in a negative way, especially with the things we had to do on the ball.

“We played to save and played backwards and into areas that wasn’t progressing our play and creating the threat we wanted. We gave a lot of balls away because of that and then the game becomes open.

“But we defended so well. I don’t think we conceded much at all and that’s what got us the result.

“We are really happy to win, you want to play better, especially with all the space we had in the second half but that’s another step the team has to take.

“The difficulty today was the high stakes. We did the same against Spurs so big credit to the boys.”

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