Arsenal boss Unai Emery has hailed his side and the supporters after his side’s impressive 2-0 victory over Manchester United at a delighted Emirates on Sunday, writes Layth Yousif,

Arsenal beat Manchester United 2-0 at the Emirates on Sunday to boost their chances of finishing in the top four in the 200th clash between these two giants of the English and world game.

A long-range first half strike from Granit Xhaka and a second-half spot-kick from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang sealed an important victory for Unai Emery’s side.

Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, Aubameyang and Alex Lacazette all started together for the first time since September as Emery went for broke in a bid to win the game through his array of attacking talent.

Speaking after the match Emery said: “I don’t know if that was the best performance of the season but we are improving. We can feel today very proud. Thank you to our supporters. They helped us a lot today.

“Being consistent is important. We need to be calm and continue to improve. Controlling our emotions is very important...we need to keep this consistency...clean sheets are very important.”

On 12 minutes Lacazette fed Xhaka who struck from around 25 yards out. While the shot had merit – and swerve – it was a shock to see David De Gea completely and utterly wrongfooted as the ball flew past him to put the Gunners 1-0 ahead.

The crowd and Xhaka and his teammates celebrated wildly – as much in shock as joy – as the 26-year-old Basel-born midfielder grabbed his sixth Gunners goal out of seven in total from outside the area.

The goal prompted stunned United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to ponder in his post-match press conference whether the 26-year-old Basel-born midfielder was in fact a Brazilian after the wicked swerve he imparted on the ball.

*There was a wonderful moment prior to Solskjaer’s post-match presser when Arsenal legend Tony Adams strode through the media room saying with a huge grin: ‘Come on you Gunners’ before greeting Ole warmly.