With Arsenal really needing to take all three points back to north London to keep up with Leicester City in the race for the Premier League title, a trip to a hughely injury depleted Manchester United who had played a big game on Thursday seemed to be just what we needed.
But whether it was the old mental block against our old rivals or the pressure of expectation on Arsenal but we just did not get going and some shocking defending allowed their 18-year old striker Marcus Rashford to score twice in the space of four minutes in the first half.
That finally sparked some life into the Arsenal side and it was the lively Welbeck that got us back into the game five minutes before the break, scoring against his former club once again with a well placed header from and Ozil free kick. The German nearly created another before halftime from a series of free kicks and corners as we pushed hard but Arsene Wenger still had a big job to do during the break.
Arsenal started the second half with intent but we still struggled to create any real chances and after 15 minutes Wenger replaced the ineffective Walcott with Giroud. Minutes later though the task got tougher as some lacklustre defending and a huge deflection off Koscielny gave Herrera a goal to make it 3-1.
We only had ourselves to blame though because the performance was just not good enough throughout the team. Hopes were raised again with 20 minutes to play when Ozil scuffed a second goal after Welbeck should have scored. We should have then been able to exploit their tired legs after two days less rest but the passing was not crisp enough and United found it quite easy to cope.
So the terrible record against Man United goes on and with Tottenham coming from behind to beat Swnsea after Leicester grabbed a last minute winner, this was a truly woeful weekend for Arsenal and our hopes of the title.