After their match against Arsenal on Sunday, Manchester United has managed to keep one of the most incredible records in the history of sports.
Bruno Fernandes scored a stunning free kick just before halftime to put the home team ahead of Arsenal. Despite the incredible effort, Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Paul Merson questioned David Raya and Arsenal’s wall. The goal was scored against the run of play.
Declan Rice equalised the score with a similarly brilliant strike that hit the post in the 74th minute. Raya made two excellent saves, including a late double stop, and by the end of the match, the two giants of English football had shared the spoils evenly.
The fact that United was in the lead at the halftime break and did not lose indicates that their incredible streak of not losing a game continued.
In the 389 games that United have played at home in the league since May 1984, they have never lost a single one of those games in which they were in the lead at halftime.
At Old Trafford, the Red Devils have won 355 matches and drawn 34 matches during that span of time, with the most recent match being against Arsenal, who are currently in second place. In a run that spans more than 40 years and includes reigns by Ron Atkinson, Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes, Ryan Giggs, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick, Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Ruben Amorim, they have never suffered a single defeat. They have never been defeated in any of their matches.
The most recent time that United was defeated after winning at halftime was on May 7, 1984, when they were playing at home against Ipswich Town. Despite the fact that the Tractor Boys were able to turn things around thanks to goals scored by Mich D’Avray and Alan Sunderland in the second half, the Red Devils were able to take the lead thanks to Mark Hughes.
As a consequence of this result, which occurred during the time that Margaret Thatcher was serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liverpool went on to win the championship for the third season in a row, while United finished in fourth place, six points behind the Reds.
Arsenal are still in second place, but they are now 15 points behind Liverpool, who are the leaders of the Premier League. United moved up to 14th place on Sunday as a result of the draw, while Arsenal remained in second place. The Premier League title is getting further away from Arsenal.
Both teams will be back in action the following week in European competition, with Arsenal playing host to PSV in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday and United playing Real Sociedad in the Europa League the following day.
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