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30th January 2021
06:20pm GMT
Marcus Rashford of Manchester United and Arsenal's Cedric Soares take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement before kick-off. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)[/caption]
For today's game against the Gunners, Martial and Greenwood dropped to the bench while Edinson Cavani started up front with Rashford on the right of a front three and Paul Pogba on the left. The Uruguayan was one of five changes to the United XI that lost 2-1 to Chris Wilder's side.
Mid-way through the first half, Cedric was cautioned for catching Bruno Fernandes with a stray elbow as he went to head the ball. Not long after, Solskjaer came to the sideline and shouted at Rashford:
https://twitter.com/MiguelDelaney/status/1355574228045729801
https://twitter.com/JamesOlley/status/1355574974711549952
Whether that is because Cedric was on an early yellow card or if Solskjaer simply fancied his forward to get the better of the former Southampton defender is up for conjecture. Gabriel Martinelli, a former United triallist, was starting on the left wing for Arsenal so the instructions may well have been for Rashford to go hard up the right-hand side.
Cedric has probably heard worse in stadiums full of supporters. He surely never expected to get so publicly called out by the Manchester United boss for all the world to hear.
As for the game itself, Fred went closest for United in the first half as he drew a superb save from Bernd Leno. Arsenal's best chance fell to Nicolas Pepe, who cut inside and curled a low effort past the right-hand post of David De Gea.
Both sides spurned decent scoring chances after the break, with Arsenal hitting the crossbar with a free-kick and Cavani missing twice from inside of six yards. In the end, a scoreless draw and Cedric Soares proving he's not too shabby at defending.
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